In the weaver's web
by JP0503
Summary: After escaping from a DNA lab, a young bone gnawer must gather as many Garou as possible to strike against an association of vampires and werespiders trying to exterminate all werewolves.
1. Trapped!

I do not own the world of darkness setting.

I make no profit out of this.

It's among my first fanfic so I would enjoy a review, whether it's: "keep up the good work!", "Write a sequel!", "It could use some amelioration", "your grammar sucks" or "don't ever touch a keyboard again!"

That being said, enjoy.

This is the story of a werewolf who wakes up in a DNA lab after succumbing to frenzy.

**Trapped**

Aaron Peterson regained conscious. How long had it been since he fainted, he could barely remember what he had done in the course of his frenzy. As usual, there had been a red haze and a stupid urge to kill whatever moved near him.

He had already fainted after frenzy, after its first change, five years ago, when he wasn't use to it and three years ago, after putting up the fight of his life against five black spiral dancers.

But those where the only two times and frenzy was getting something common to him, the three street thugs that triggered this particular frenzy could hardly have hurt him enough to make him faint.

The important question right now wasn't so much how he got there but more: "Where the hell was he?"

He was floating in some sort of giant aquarium; a mask on his face allowed him to breath through a tube and shielded his eyes from the water.

His hands where bonded by large steel manacles, six inches tick! Whoever had locked him in there knew he could shift to Crinos form. The manacles where attached to the top of the container he was in and kept his hands apart in a crux like stance.

Strangely, he was covered in a thin plastic sheet, which left him dry even in this water thank, what were they hoping, that thing would burst as soon as he would shift to a larger form.

He couldn't help but noticed there where a few wire connected to him, two at his temples and one near his heart, whoever putted him in there cared about his life signs. All he could see beyond the glass cage was a computer console to which the wires where connected, the rest of the room was an aseptic white, like hospital rooms.

It was the least of his current worries, but he was naked in that goddamn aquarium. The clothes he had been wearing had been dedicated, so they would not tear to shreds when he shifted, it was obvious he had them back after his frenzy, so whoever putted him here took them off on purpose. On a side note, his fetish gun was gone too.

Well, he was in a glass aquarium bound by steel manacles, now the real trouble was how to get out.

Shouldn't be too hard, Aaron, Alley-Fang, for other Garou was born under a new moon, he was a ragabash and as such, he knew gift that made escaping from that kind of situation a breeze.

He focused on the manacles, there had to be a lock of some sort on these and so, the aptly named gift "open seal" would unlock them.

Nothing happened.

Ok, it doesn't always work on the first try, he had to pierce the gauntlet which seems to be tick around here; he would get it eventually.

After five minutes, he was still trapped.

If he couldn't pierce the gauntlet for a simple gift, stepping sideway was right out, especially without a mirror.

The water wasn't scaring him, he could hold his breath for a long time, but he felt like these might be reinforced glass, and these manacles probably wouldn't burst during the Crinos shift. Trying to claw his way out was risky at best.

Of course, as and homid fostern, he could use the "jam technology" gift on the mechanical systems, but that would likely jam the breathing device that kept him alive.

Well, whoever was behind all this wasn't working for the Wyrm, else he would be dead by now, and wanted him alive. Better wait and see what happens.

After a while, a door opened in the small room outside the aquarium and a young woman dressed in a white blouse came in. This was neither time nor place, but Alley-Fang couldn't help notice that she was very pretty, with curly brown-black hair and hazel eyes.

"Can you hear me?" the woman asked in a microphone in the computer console, the sound came right to Aaron's ear through headphones integrated in the breathing helmet.

-Uh…yeah, and you can hear me?

-Perfectly, I have some question to ask you.

-That's funny 'cause I was about to say the same thing.

-You are in no position to ask anything, cooperate and no harm will come to you.

-My, my, threats already, you could try to ask nicely you know.

-The only reason you are here and not on a dissection table his because I convinced my superiors that I could learn about your condition from interviewing you, if you prove me wrong, you might not live long. The woman was obviously making efforts to sound threatening, but she wasn't very convining.

-And of course I'm gonna be released with no harm done if I do cooperate with you…

-Well…

-Though so, so this is how it works, either I cooperate and get dissect later or I tell you to go to hell and get dissect right now, is that close enough to my situation?

-Quite close yes, I must admit you got little reason to talk to me if you put it this way.

-Since getting dissect for no good reason seems kind of dull, lets work out a deal. You ask something, I answer, then I ask something and you answer.

The girl looked at Alley-Fang in disbelief, but after a while she answered: "All right, let's play this little game of yours, but don't try lying; you're plugged on a lie detecting device so I will know."

-Ok…how do _I_ know you're not lying?

-You don't, now if I may ask my first question.

-Go ahead.

-What are you?

-Seeing all those precaution you took, I though you had a clue, I'm a werewolf.

Ok, that was a veil breech and as such a violation of the litany, but this girl obviously knew something about his shape shifting nature, why takes so many precautions to keep him in this glass tank?

-Ok, I knew that much, although we refer to it as GLS.

-How did you come up with such a stupid name for a werewolf?

-I am going to assume that was your counter-question, GLS stands for Genetic Lycanthropic Syndrome, the name we gave to the sickness affecting you. Know tell me…

-Wait, you think being a werewolf his a sickness?

-It is, now answer my question, what do you remember before waking up here.

Great, mad scientist thinking a half-spirit creature is a genetic mishap and trying to "cure" it, could this get any worse?

This question gave Alley-Fang some time to rethink about the event that led to his frenzy. He had been walking in the slums alleys, looking around for some homeless people to bring back to the bone gnawer caern, as his tribe elders had asked.

He was sent alone because his packmates were recovering from grave injuries. No matter, Aaron Peterson was a street wise survivor long before he joined the bone gnawers, or gained the ability to become a nine foot tall killing machine.

He didn't find homeless people, but he ran into three street thugs who were harassing a young woman with clearly wrong intentions. The young werewolf took his glabro form and engaged the three guys in a fierce fist fight

His ability to regenerate damage and his enhanced strength and resilience made short workout of the first two, but the third one took out a gun and shoot him straight in the chest.

The wound didn't kill him, but the pain sent him into a berserk frenzy, next thing he knew, he was in this water filled cell.

-I remember getting shot in the chest by some asshole.

-And you decided to rend him and his friend to pieces?

-I'm the one who gets to ask now, but I'm a nice guy so I'll answer this one, I didn't _decide _anything, my rage took over and I went berserk, it unfortunately happens to the best…and the worst of my kind.

Alley-Fang noticed she was taking notes on a clipboard.

-Now for my question, where the hell am I?

-You are in a DNA lab, a scientist organisation dedicated to studying and eventually eradicating GLS

-And by eradicating I assume you mean finding a cure to the "werewolf sickness".

-Precisely. Now tell me, why were you in these Alleys?

"My friends sent me out to get some hopeless people and bring them back to our lair." could be misinterpreted in many ways, so alley-Fang answered: "Just taking a stroll"

-Your lying.

Those lie detectors weren't a "truth of gaïa" gift; he could fool it by remaining calm and acting as if he believed what he was saying himself.

-Ok, your right, I was out looking for food, but not humans, in case the though had crossed your mind.

-The though _had _crossed my mind.

-Well, now for my question, what's that aquarium you're holding me in?

-A holding tank especially meant to hold GLS infected people, its reinforced glass, titanium manacles and pressure sealed. The great thing about it remains the water.

-How so?

-Its saturated with silver powder, should there be so much as one small tear in the plastic envelop around you, you would feel like a human in an acid bath. So think twice before shifting.

That explained why piercing the gauntlet was impossible, he couldn't tap in his gnosis, he was bathing in silver (literally)!

-For my next question, how long have you been infected?

-Might as well tell you right now, I was not _infected_, I was born this way.

-Analysis shows that you are a GLS-1H; you were a normal human before manifesting the symptoms.

-GLS-1H, symptoms…wait, I get it, that's how you refer to Homid werewolves.

-Homid?

-Werewolves born in human form, we call them Homid.

-Ok… that hardly answers my question though.

-I had my first change about five years ago.

-First change? Is that how you refer to the first time you transformed?

-Yep, but now it's my turn…

A plan had formed in the ragabash's mind, that girl believed him to be a public danger, a sick person who needed to be helped, eliminated or studied, she probably wouldn't let him escape in that mindset. But he was in part human, and he wished no harm to that misled woman or the other scientist in this complex, if he could make her get that point, she might set him free.

-What's your name?

The scientist was…startled to say the least.

-What kind of question is that?

-Well, you asked me a bunch of personal questions, now I want to know your name, surely you have a name.

-If it's going to take that to make you cooperate, it's Sarah.

-That's a start, I'm Aaron, but other werewolves call me Alley-Fang.

-Other werewolves? There are more like you in this city?

-Yes, my turns, how old are you.

-What does that got to do with anything? She sounded exasperated.

-Just curious, you seem awfully young to be working on werewolf interrogation.

-I'm 22, now can I ask a question?

-You just did, it's my turn. How did you end up working here?

-No wait, it's my turn.

-now can I ask a question, that's a question, I answered, it's my turn.

-That's not fair! It was funny how she had suddenly lost her composure and was now sounding childish.

-Now, now, just answer my question and be careful what you say.

-My father works here and he introduced me to the boss, thinking my combination of animal care and psychology training could benefit DNA. Now tell me where the other werewolves are.

-How about no?

-Hey, you're supposed to answer my questions!

-But you asked none, you gave me orders

-All right (the game was getting on her nerves), can you tell me where the other werewolves are?

-No! He answered in a sneering tone.

-Guest you're not a man of your words.

-Yes I am, I answered your question. I can't tell you because you would then go and hunt them down, put them in glass prisons and interrogate or dissect them. I wish that to no one. On a side note, it's nice you referred to me as a man.

-Don't make a habit out of it. The frustration in her voice was palpable; she was getting bored of being outwitted by a test subject.

-Fine, fine, ask me another question, I'm running short on ideas anyway.

-The claw marks on the corpses suggested you used the wolf-man form. Yet after snipping you down, the hunting team found you with clothes on, how is that possible?

He could lose her on this one…

-Well...you don't believe in magic do you?

-Of course not!

It would have been too good to be true.

-Well I'm afraid I have no logical explanation to the phenomena for someone who does not believe in magic.

-Then I'll ask another one, why are you carrying a weapon that's lethal to yourself?

-Your probably referring to my gun's silver clip.

-Precisely.

-Well, I don't know what you managed to dig out about us, but we are a race at war.

-I don't like the fact that you insist on referring to your fellows as a race, but go on.

-There are two kinds of werewolves, the Gaïan, those who try to control their rages and protect humanity.

-How does rending people to pieces help humans?

-Like I said, we try to control ourselves, but some things, like being locked in a bath of silver, can get on our nerves.

The girl was trying to keep a cold stare, but she was obviously nervous.

-The other faction are those werewolf who deserve the title of monsters, those who loose themselves to the darkest impulse known to man or wolf, we call them the black spiral dancers.

-And you said GLS was a stupid name.

-Well, I could explain you why their called that way but…

-But what?

-You don't believe in magic…

Aaron could swear he saw a smile on Sarah's face seconds before an alarm rang, now what?

-That's only the beginning folks, if I don't receive highly negative reviews, I'll write chapter two, which will involve less talking and more fighting.-

JP0305


	2. The abomination

The alarm rang loudly into the room, making it hard for Alley-Fang and Sarah to hear one another.

-Alarms like that are rarely good news, what's going on? Aaron asked.

Sarah didn't bother to answer; she typed something on the computer which opened a communication link. She probably hadn't noticed or couldn't care less, but Alley-Fang could hear everything they said.

-This is Sarah Hapkin coming in from holding cell two, what's going on?

-Miss Hapkin, evacuate the holding cell block, GLS-2-23 has risen and is heading your way, said the voice in the communication link.

-That's impossible; GLS-2-23 died 12 hours ago!

-Well he stood from the operation table, murdered the scientists and caught the guards unaware, they are under the maddening effect of GLS sighting (must be how they refer to delirium, Alley-Fang though).

Sarah took her notepad and headed for the exit, but came back half way.

-Sir, what about GLS-1H-24?

-Who cares! Just leave it there and run!

-But sir…

-Say, is GLS-1H-24 some sort of code name of mine? Alley-Fang wanted to take part of this conversation.

-Doctor Hapkin! Why is the patient connected to this communication?

-I contacted you in a hurry and…

-NEVERMIND THAT, TAKE THE DRUG AND RUN, HE'S COMING!

Sarah took a pill from her pocket, swallowed it and opened the door. She got out leaving Alley-Fang alone. Could this day get any worse?

-Hey Sarah's boss, are you still there?

-What, she didn't disconnect you?

-She's busy saving her own skin from an angry werewolf, not that I blame her. Could we talk about me getting out of this cell, I mean, this position is getting a little uncomfortable.

-You are to be held in quarantine until we find a cure to your illness (that could take a while, Alley-Fang though).

Sarah chose this moment to re-enter the room.

-You do realise this is a dead end?

-Who are you talking to?

-He's talking to me sir; the fugitive is already in the hallway, so I came back in here.

-Hapkin, you idiot, there is no way out of this room!

-Aaron's gun, which I have here, is loaded with silver bullets, that's my best chance.

-Who the hell is Aaron?

-GLS-1H-24's name. (Cool, she remembered, Alley-Fang's though)

While saying that, she reached to a plastic bag in which Alley-Fang recognised his clothes and his fetish gun.

She took the weapon and aimed it at the door. Eventually, heavy steps began pounding being the large steel door. Out of nervousness, Sarah tried to shoot. Try as she may however, the spirit in this gun obeyed to Alley-Fang and him only, a loud "click" was all that got out of the gun.

It seemed to be enough to alert the hulking creature on the other side that someone was in there. A shrieking sound of nail against a black board came along with claw marks on the door.

Sarah turned to the tank: "Why is it not working?"

-It only works for me (a black crinos paw punched trough the door) let me out of the tank he ordered.

She hesitated…

-Hapkin, the last thing we need is another GLS running free, keep GLS-1H-24 imprisoned, the guy in the communication link said.

-Sarah, listen, if that guy is a Gaïan, he can be reasoned with, if he's a black spiral dancer, I can take him on…

Her finger was inches away from a button on the console.

-Hapkin, don't do this…

The werewolf on the other side of the door was doing a good job tearing through it.

-Sarah, hurry!

The terrified scientist pressed the button and ran to a corner of the room. The top of the tank lifted up, taking the manacled werewolf along with it. It craned him next to the water filled prison and released the manacled; Aaron tore the mask from his face and removed the plastic coating.

On the bright side, he had been consciously freed, what little watery drops had gotten out of the aquarium hardly burned him and his gun was within arm reach.

On the wrong side, an hulking crinos with white skin, black hair, horns, glowing red eyes and ridiculously long canines had just tore his way in the room…

Alley-Fang, unlike his Ahroun packmates, was not born a warrior; he was a new moon, a trickster.

But every werewolf was a warrior, Gaïa's warriors, and as such, he would not back down, he was cornered and he had an innocent girl to protect.

So what if that thing seems bigger, stronger and all around more powerful then he was, Alley-Fang's pack was bound together by the war totem Weasel and as such, he would show no fear and fight to the death.

With these thoughts in mind, he tapped into his primal rage to quickly assume his war form and leapt toward the monster.

The black werewolf seemed surprised to see one of his own and was too startled to dodge Alley-Fangs full body tackle. The two opponents rolled in the corridor out of the room.

That wild rolling ended with the monstrous creature standing above Alley-Fang, pinning him down. He opened his gapping maw and readied to burry his enormous fangs in his opponent's throat.

Seconds before the canines made contact with his neck (which would have probably decapitated him outright), Alley-Fangs reverted to his much smaller breed form, and rolled out of the way. The other werewolf, caught in his momentum, sank his teeth deep in the floor.

Watching his opponent struggle to get his teeth out of the ground, Alley-Fang shifted back to war form and couldn't help but let out a howl of mockery on his foe's behalf. The black monster rose back to his feet and glared at the loud mouthed ragabash with hatred burning in his red eyes.

It was the monstrous werewolf's turn to charge, but Alley-Fang had seen him coming.

He leapt in the air, above his opponent's head and slashed him with his claw along the way; he landed gracefully on the other end of the corridor. There was an open door just behind him leading to a larger room, which was good because he would need space to outmanoeuvre his opponent.

To his relief, he saw Sarah coming out of the room behind the charging monster, with his clothes and gun. Once he had taken care of the mad werewolf, he would have to have a longer talk with her, from the "out of a silver water filled glass tank" perspective, she seemed like a really good person.

Back to present trouble, the room in which he had just lured his opponent was a total wreck, bodies, broken furniture, broken glass and other randomly scattered scientist tools. Apparently, the monster had come from this way…

"You're running from me Gaïan freak?"

Well what do you know, that monster speaks Garou. The two opponents circled around the room.

-More like choosing my battlefield, cramped space just aren't my thing.

The black werewolf picked up a scientist corpse and, to Alley-Fang's horror, sank his teeth into it to gorge himself from the blood.

-Yuck, tastes better when the donor his alive, the beast said.

-I tough you were an average black spiral dancer but I see it's much worse than that.

-You wish I was the average fallen Garou you miserable insect, but none of them can compare to what I am.

-Which brings up a good point, what in the world are you suppose to be?

-I'm precisely something that should _not _be; those like me are rightly called abomination, for we are the greatest embodiment of primal life made living dead!

-Werewolves made vampires, I though they were just spook stories told to cubs who dismiss leeches as lesser, inoffensive opponents.

-The odds are bad, but our kind can be ripped of their lives and made a horrible mockery of their former glory by the kindred, has I have.

-Dude, just how do you keep going like this, can't you just step in the sun or something?

-It's true that the transformation severed me from the spirit world and alienated me from the Garou nation, but there is solace for those like me, one tribe who will accept them, one entity that will still fuel them with spiritual energy…

-The wyrm…

-Indeed.

-So they captured you, brought you here thinking you were dead and you just waited for the right time to strike?

-I was low on blood, I needed has many of them nearby. I also needed to take them by surprise; my bond to Luna is still strong enough to make silver lethal.

-Let me guest, your not sated yet?

-No…

-And like most vampires, you draw great power and sustenance from werewolf blood?

-Exactly…

-Well, come over here and beat some blood out of me, if you can.

-You really think you can beat me; you should run you fool; you'd live longer that way. Not _much _longer, but longer still…

-I'll have you know I'm a follower of weasel, we don't back down. I also happen to be a bone gnawer, most wyrmspawn find killing the likes of me…difficult at best.

The abomination let out a guttural laugh.

-A son of rat really, geez! Please don't hurt me I'm scared! With that "come get some" attitude I actually though you were a fenris or a wendigo, but I see you must just be a loud mouthed new moon that just hides behind his packmates when he's done taunting.

-It's true my tribes are underdogs to say the least, but it makes it easier to surprise our foes with little tricks like…THIS!

Alley-Fang activated a gift though to him by a trash spirit on the abomination by pointing his finger at him. The monster stepped back, but seeing not obvious effect, started to walk toward Alley-Fang.

-What was that suppose to do, humiliate yourself to death so you don't suffer?

-nope, it's a little gift called "trash magnet".

-Thrash ma…

Too late, every misplaced and/or broken object flew toward the monster, table remains, corpses, glass shards and a couple of the silver scalpel Aaron had spotted when they were both circling the room.

The abomination let out a howl of agony has the silver instruments were attracted to him, blade first in chest.

Alley-Fang seized the moment to drive his claws though the monstrous creature's throat. The abomination was faster however and in its dying wail, it bitted Alley-Fang's arm as hard as he could. Aaron distinctly heard one of his bone snap under the jaw's pressure and felt a little of his blood absorbed before the abomination fell to the ground.

He fell to one knee, his arm had been mangled and, not that he was surprise, it wasn't regenerating. Worse yet, the abomination was still moving under the rubbles brought upon him by the trash magnet.

Sarah came up to him, hesitating to get anywhere close, much like a kinfolk unsure if the Crinos before him is in frenzy or not. (Strange, she's not affected by the delirium). He shifted back to his breed form to reassure her.

"Are you…"she began but Aaron cut her.

-Burn it.

-What?

-The other werewolf, burn it of he's gonna stand back up in a matter of minutes.

Sarah went to a locker in the corner, got a gallon of chemicals, poured it over the abomination and searched her pockets. She got a lighter out and a pack of smokes fell to the ground. They were Circinus Brand, the world leader in the smoke industry and Alley-Fang had _never _seen one of these without the Wyrm's taint on it.

The lighter fell and lit whatever Sarah had poured over the monster. Both her and Alley-Fang stepped back has the abomination lit in a blazing bonfire before falling to dust in one final, hateful howl.

"What was that thing?"

-Have you started to believe in magic? Alley-Fang was proud to be able to keep is carefree tone even when he was crippled, scorched and naked next to a girl who believed him some sort of mutant freak.

-After what I just saw…I guest I can keep my mind open. She said that as she tried to wrap a bandage around Alley-Fang's arm.

-Glad to hear it, this might put our conversations through an all knew perspective.

-Our conversation, you don't intend to run away from here now that you're free and that I'm the only thing standing between you and your stuff? Indeed, Aaron's clothes and fetish were just next to her in the plastic bag.

-Well two things are gonna keep me here, your enjoyable company…

-Oh…she blushed.

-And those armed guards over there.

There were indeed about twenty armed men at the room entrance aiming their guns at the werewolf.

Sarah stood up: "STOP! That GLS is a test subject, don't shoot."

-I'm still a test subject?

-Be quiet… she whispered him.

-Are you certain doctor Hapkin? The soldiers asked.

-Yes, GLS-1H-24 is not a threat, he his wounded, get a medic down here and then escort him to holding area 4.

-Holding area?

-Sorry, she whispered, it's that or a volley of silver bullets…

The soldiers gathered around him, one of them made a safe bandage around his arm. Then all twenty of them escorted him to holding area 4. Alley-Fang cooperated; he wasn't willing to kill twenty morons just because they were following orders from someone who really meant him no harm. Well, the silver bullets did play in their favours too…

This cell was better than the last one; at least he had space to move! Five whole cube meters! Later on, the brought him his clothes and a plate of food. He got dressed and looked at the plate. Some sort of ill tasting grey paste. "My shoes would probably taste better if I used the cooking gift on them…"

Meanwhile, in another room, Sarah was talking to another scientist.

"You set one GLS free to defend you from another?"

-Yeah, it's not like I had a choice…

-What if GLS-1H-24 had decided to kill you before joining his friend in wrecking the complex?

-They were not friends, and Aaron wouldn't do that!

-Aaron? You're calling GLS by name now?

-Well it's shorter. Anyway, you can't have him killed, no other werewolf ever showed so much hope in term of communication, we could learn a lot from him.

-What do sick people know about their sickness? And when did you start calling them werewolves?

-Father pleases; you had me hired so I could try a psychological approach on the captured GLS and against all odds, it worked. I'm sure GLS-1H-24 will open up to me a lot more if you give me more time.

The aged man closed his eyes and though long on this before saying: "Fine, I'm putting you in charge of the GLS-1H-24 file; so long has you don't let him out of his cell without notifying me."

-Thanks dad!

-Sarah I told you, between these walls, its professor Hapkin.

-Well, thanks anyway. She got out of the room smiling.

Alley-Fang was safe, for now. She had in mind a thousand questions to ask him, about the other werewolf about the conversation he seemed to have in growling with him, about the flying objects, the fact that it had literally risen from the dead…

She wasn't sure she would like, or believe all his answers, but she had to ask. She never believed in magic, but after today's events, she needed explanation, any explanation to what she had seen, and science could not provide that.

She lit a cigarette on her way to Aaron's cell. She had to stop smoking, but right now, the stress was just overpowering her will.

Back in his cell, Alley-Fang was thinking of a way to escape. In other circumstances, he would have sough by all mean to speak with Sarah a little more, there was just something about her that appealed to him.

But he had a pack and a sept counting on him, he had to get out of this lab, one way or another.

That's chapter two, note that when I said "more fighting" I took in consideration that there was _no _fighting in the first one, sorry for violence addicted readers I might have deceived.

Thanks to my good friend FF demon-angel for overcoming her limited English proficiency in order to encourage me and for helping fleshing out Alley-Fang's personality by roughing him up as Sarika in our "werewolf, the apocalypse" game.

Thanks also to LadySmith for her helpful review, although I'm not exactly sure what you meant by tell over show…well, hope I corrected that, if not, feel free to rub my nose in it. Hope you enjoy this one as much as the first.

Stay tuned for chapter three folks!


	3. The truth hurts

Since pacing around the cell was futile (and ultimately, impossible due to its size), it was time for the ragabash to come up with an escape plan.

His situation was a little better now, escaping wasn't going to cause is immediate demise in a bath of silver and he had his clothes.

And in his hollow shoe sole was a pocket mirror…

Aaron congratulated himself on hiding that useful evasion tool in such a clever place. But there were more urgent matters at end; he would have all the time to gloat about it once he escapes.

He gazed at his own reflection in the mirror and focused… It took him about ten minutes, his connection to the umbra being rather weak, to difficultly step sideway into the lab's penumbra.

The place made him feel sick; the feeling of restrain he felt in the material cell was nothing next to the oppressive sterility of the local spirit world. The place was cold, empty of all emotions; clearly the taint of the weaver was all over the place, there webs everywhere. The sooner he would get out, the better.

Fortunately, the cell's umbral reflection seemed intangible enough for him to push trough, then all he would have to do his find the exit, he didn't expect to find any major obstacles on his way.

Alley-Fang had been wrong in the past, and he was wrong again.

He shared his umbral cell with a spirit that took the shape of a large arachnid busy spinning a web in the cell.

A pattern spider? What the hell was a pattern spider doing in there?

The spider spirit turned its attention to Alley-Fang, obviously displeased with being interrupted; she raised her forelegs and revealed her sharpened hooks.

Alley-Fang shifted to Glabro. Let's not get confused, he was more than a match for any pattern spider on a one on one basis.

Those statistics however assume he has enough space to move and all his valid limbs, and in the current situation, he was in a cramped space with a mangled arm.

Still, he managed to dodge most of the thing's attack and land a few good punches on the weaver servant. The spider got tired of stand up fighting and used her terrifying web attack.

There was not enough space to avoid that, Alley-fang was engulfed in the spirit's web, which started slowly calcifying him, trying to freeze him forever in this sterile wasteland.

He tried to fight back but the harder the web got, the more trouble he had to move. In desperation, he focused all his will and all his gnosis on one purpose: getting back to the material world on the double.

Probably by Gaia's divine intervention, he did manage to pierce the extremely tick gauntlet on the first try and putted it between him and the pattern spider.

Ok, he had to come up with a plan B. To him, plan B usually meant: "retry plan A, till it works", but that was downright stupid for the moment.

Meanwhile, back at the Road-kill-smell sept, a tall Native American girl with long, braided black hair and dark eyes was pacing around the dirty floor in exasperation.

"I can't stand sitting around here and do nothing, one of our packmate has gone missing, why aren't we out there looking for him?"

Sarika Summer, or Bloodhunt, had been seething for a day and a half and now, pilled up frustration was flooding out of the wendigo ahroun.

-And what do you suggest we do? Get out on the street and sniff around for his smell?

Asenka, youngest member of the pack, had said that last sentence in a very ironic and disrespectful tone. The raven haired woman was of the shadow lord tribe, she was still a cliath, one rank lower then the rest, but she still packed quite an attitude.

-Why not? You might be able to stay here and wait for the other gnawers to come back, but that's because you have never lost a packmate before, and you haven't known Aaron for as long as I have…

-What? You think you care more about his disappearance then I do, just because I haven't been around as long as you have? Tell you what, I care about Aaron too, I'm worried about him, but that's no reason to got out in the big city and hope for a lucky guess at were he might have gone, so mind your damn temper! The young ahroun wasn't preaching by example.

-I'll dare you talk to me like that!

-That's enough, both of you!

Cry-the-red-tear, the pack's philodox had just brought the two ahroun to silence.

-The very last thing we need is to start bickering among ourselves, Sarika, we are all worry about Alley-Fang but none of us has the skill to pick up his track, Asenka, you show more respect to your alpha.

-Sorry Sarika.

-Yeah, I'm sorry too.

They sat down near Cry-the-red-tear. The Uktena Metis was sitting cross-legged in crinos form and seemed to be concentrating.

-Any luck with the mental link? Asenka asked.

-No, something is blocking weasel's power, I cannot reach Alley-Fang were he his now.

-Doesn't that give us a clue where he might be, there are after all few places where a totem link is cut, Bloodhunt intervened.

-I summoned weasel while you two where arguing, she should be here shortly.

Suddenly, the small fury spirit appeared in the material world.

-I'm here as by your summon Cry-the-red-tear, what can I do for you my children? Oh but wait, one of you is missing…

-Indeed weasel, Alley-Fang as gone missing and wherever he his, we cannot reach him through the link that unite us.

-That is strange indeed, the link I provided this pack with transcend worlds as well as most barriers, but wait, one thing might be strong enough to block it…

-By all mean tell us, please.

-The only one of the triat with the power to cut Alley-Fang from the link is not the Wyrm, even the great corrupter cannot disrupt the bound that unite a pack…it would have to be the weaver…

-You think the weaver did this! Asenka asked.

-No, no, not the weaver himself foolish girl, he has much greater plot to attend to. It is possible however that Alley-Fang is being held captive in an area with a very high weaver taint, which would block enough to stop communication, but not enough that I can't sense that he's alive and that he still benefits from my gifts.

-At least we know that much, if he's alive then there is still hope to save him, said Bloodhunt.

-If you could get closer to Alley-Fang, not next to him since that would make it irrelevant, but a bit closer, maybe the link could be re-established.

-The thing his, Alley-Fang is the only one among us who knows the rite of the questing stone, or as any knowledge of how to navigate the streets without getting…

-Lost in the industrial district and get ambushed by a pack of black spiral dancers? Asenka was referring to a misadventure that had happened to her alpha last time she tried to find her own way in a city…

Bloodhunt turned to Asenka and let out a feral snarl.

-Enough already, can't the two of you focus on the matter at end! Cry was getting tired of his packmate's bickering

-Sorry, it's just that I'm on the hair trigger right now; I only wish we had some leads...

A small woman dressed in rags entered the basement at this time.

"Your wish has been granted Sarika, for we have found Aaron's traces, care to join the search?"

That was Sirine Empty-the-cupboard, the sept's leader.

Sarika picked up her storm spear fetish and rose to her feet.

-Let's go guys; we've got a packmate to rescue!

Asenka took her fang dagger, Cry his rune staff and weasel went back to the umbra; the three werewolves followed Sirine, eager to be reunited with their packmate.

Meanwhile, unaware of his pack's current worries, Alley-Fang was still sitting in his cell. He had not come up with another escape plan. Using open seal on the door did work, but there were a couple silver bullet armed guards waiting for him to try that.

The best he had managed to do was to stay in Glabro to accelerate his arm's healing rate, which was still damn slow.

Eventually, he heard a familiar voice in the cell's speaker.

"Aaron, can you hear me."

-Loud and clear Sarah.

-I'm sorry to have kept you waiting; I heard you tried to escape by disappearing.

-Try is right, the local vermin made sure I wasn't getting out that way. Since you know that I assume there are cameras in here?

-Yes, I can see you right now and as such I would ask you not to change form.

-Oh yeah, the "GLS sighting maddening effect", we call that delirium.

-Delirium is it? Well we did manage to create a drug that temporarily neutralize this effect, but its short lasting, expensive and bad for my health, so please don't force me to take one.

-It's that little pill you took before running out of the room right? Well don't worry; I'm not forcing you to take drugs. I would get crushed if I shifted to Crinos here anyway.

-Crinos?

-I assume you must call it something like: "wolf-man-body-configuration-pattern" or something like that, but Crinos is shorter.

-I agree. Say, could we get back to some of yesterday's questions? The ones you could not answer properly because I didn't believe in magic.

-Didn't? You believe now?

-Well, after what I saw, any answer might make sense.

-Ok, well for what's about my clothes...it's kind of a long story.

-I've got all day, were you planning on going somewhere?

Aaron smiled.

-Nah, not now, I'll let you guys think you've got me trapped a little longer…

-Then I'm eager to hear your story.

Somehow, Aaron could tell this wasn't some sort of psychological trick to get answer out of him; she really wanted to hear him out. If she would like the answers however, that was another matter.

-Ok, first, sorry to tell you that but the world as you know it is one among many.

-Why do I have the feeling you're not referring to alien life form…

-I'm not, I'm talking about another world that overlaps this one, like a reflection, we call it the umbra, or the spirit world.

-Spirit world?

-This world, the one we are in right now is the material world; beyond this one is the umbra, where the spirits dwell. Just about anything in the material world as its spirit reflection in the umbra: plants, animal, building…

-What about people?

-Well I'm not an expert on the umbra but I have never seen a human spirit so far…

-Assuming all you said is true, what does that have to do with werewolves?

-Oh, we shape-shifters are half flesh half spirit; we can exist in both world and travel from one to another at will, that's how I disappear: I go in the umbra.

-That sounds like the perfect escape route, why did you come back.

-Well, remember when I said there were spirits in the umbra?

-Yes

-Well material thing have spirits bound to them, but spirits don't necessarily have material things bound to them, so there are hostile spirits in this building's umbra.

-What…kind of spirits?

-Spider-like spirit that serves a powerful entity that favour unchanging sterility. It tried to calcify me were I stood.

-And you don't look like you're in a state to fight…

-In a few days my regenerative powers will restore my arm and that spider's paying for it.

-Which brings a point, why has it not healed yet?

-The damage inflicted by other werewolves takes longer to regenerate.

-Speaking of the thing that inflicted you that wound…

-More on that later, didn't you want to know how my clothes could adapt to my body size?

-Oh, yes of course.

-By mean of a special ritual, I forged a deal with the spirit of these clothes so that they bound themselves to my spirit half, so they change the form of their material counterpart to fit my transformations.

-Quite complicated for the simple result it gives.

-The theory is complicated, but the ritual itself is quite simple.

-So by mean of some rituals, you can compel spirits o do things for you.

-Shaper-shifters made pacts with the denizens of the spirit world long ago; they are bound by these pacts to help us when we ask properly, by mean of rituals.

-That's a lot to take all a once…

-Then maybe we should wait a few days before I talk to you about yesterday's werewolf and the black spiral dancers.

-No, its ok, I really want to know.

-Ok well, in the beginning…

-The beginning?

-Oh yeah, forget the whole big bang crap 'cause I'm about to tell you how the world really came to be.

-Ok… go ahead…

-Well, there are and have always been three fundamental entities that encompass all that exist, they are collectively known as the triat and individually known as the Wyrm, the Wyld and the Weaver.

The Wyld is what creates raw material, the Weaver is what gives it a fixed shape and the Wyrm is the agent of balance, it destroys things that have existed too long to make place for renewal.

That's the perfect triat, the ultimate harmony, that's what _should _be. But somewhere along the way, longer ago than any werewolf can remember, something terrible happened. The Weaver got insane and refused the Wyrm's role as agent of balance, so to keep it from destroying all its creations, it trapped the Wyrm in its web. As he tried to free himself, the Wyrm became even more entwine in the Weaver's trap. Over time, captivity drove the agent of balance mad, the Wyrm was known from this day forward as the great corrupter. The Wyrm has since that time been what you might call the very incarnation of evil.

And that's why we, werewolves exist. The spirit of the earth, Gaia, created the Garou to be her warriors, we are born to make war against the Wyrm and keep it from destroying our mother, Gaia.

There was not a sound in the speaker.

-Hey Sarah, you still there?

-Yes, it's just that, your telling me all this and even without proof, I'm tempted to believe you. I usually never believe anything without proofs, and this is something I truly wish was false, because it means I was wrong, I was wrong all along.

-Yeah, were not disease ridden mutant, were half spirit warriors standing between an insane, dark god of destruction and the world's total annihilation.

-World's total annihilation?

-Oh yes, the world on its last ride as we speak, the apocalypse is coming, the Wyrm gets more powerful everyday from all the corruption and violence in the world and soon, he's gonna bring about the final battle, and if the werewolves loose this one, I'm afraid the world is doomed.

-Slow down here, the end of the world is near, I heard some werewolves babble about that, now you're telling me it's real?

-As real as it gets, if we loose the final battle, which will begin soon, the whole planet's in for one hell of a ride. And one detail, the augury of our victory looks grim.

-Wait, this apocalypse thing concerns the whole world, I mean, sure this Wyrm thing sounds awfully strong but surely there is something human military power can do against that, my point is, why not expose yourselves to the population, we're not as strong as you might be, but maybe we could make a difference.

- (sigh) Sarah where am I?

-In a DNA lab I told you that…

-Why am I here?

-Because we cap…oh I think I see your point…

-Plus the delirium would make it hard for human and werewolves to fight effectively side by side.

-Yeah…

-By the way, about your other question, we call the evil werewolf tribe black spiral dancers because they were once a Garou tribe, the white howlers that went to Malfeas, the Wyrm's umbral realm and were tricked into walking in a maze called the black spiral.

-and then…

-The white holwers died that day; the Wyrm swallowed the tribe whole and spitted the black spiral dancers back at Gaia…

-Not the kind of thing that cheer up an army.

-You said it.

-If you truly believe any of what I just said, I'm sorry. It was hard for me to hear all this after my first change: that the world is dying, that I'm a warrior on the loosing side of a war and that I must hide what I really am from the rest of the world until the day I die, which could now be any day. I can only imagine how this must be for you, at least I discovered I had supernatural powers at that time, you have been rob of the bliss of ignorance with nothing to make up for it. I just hope you can use that knowledge to your advantage; once again, I'm sorry.

-Its ok, I'd rather know a horrible truth then a wonderful lie. If you'll excuse me, I must go.

Her voice hinted Alley-Fang that the revelation had shaken her greatly, maybe that's why the litany says the veil should not be lifted, maybe it was meant to protect human as much as Garou.

-One last thing…about the other werewolf, it _was _one of them black spiral dancers, right?

-Yeah, kind off, but there was more to him then that, but you've heard enough atrocities for one day.

Telling her what he knew about the abomination would also mean telling her about vampires, nothing to cheer her up…

-Ok, good nigh Aaron.

-If you say so, it's not like I can tell…

-I'll see what I can do to make your captivity more comfortable, but getting you freed is near impossible unless I convince everyone that what you told me is true, quite unlikely too.

-Just do your best, but don't worry, I can manage to escape on my own.

-Indeed, goodbye Aaron.

-Goodbye Sarah.

The speaker went silent. Alley-Fang hoped that, if she did believe him about the triat and the apocalypse, she had the nerves to deal with that knowledge, he had gotten a little carried away in his explanation and he feared he might have said too much too quickly.

The speaker went on again: "Alley-Fang?"

That wasn't Sarah.

-Who's this?

-None of your business street mongrel, you'd better convince doctor Hapkin that all you just said was a load of crap, or I will personally make your stay among us as close to hell as I can.

-It was all true, and I would really like to see you come here and make threats to me face to face!

-Oh but I know it was true, I already knew all you said and more, but for your own good, you might want to shut you yap.

-Pah! Sarah and everyone here have right to know, you don't scare me, whoever you are!

-Let me put it another way, tomorrow when she come to speak to you, you're going to convince her that all you said was a lie, some insane ranting or whatever, so long as she does not believe you anymore…

-and why would I do that?

-For doctor Hapkin's own good, does that sound like a good reason?

-Why you…These words pulled out to Alley-Fang and threatened to drive him into a berserk frenzy.Fnny, he had known Sarah for only two days but threats to her aroused his rage.

-And by the way, don't try the umbra again; I putted more spiders on your case, goodnight Garou.

The speaker went out. Whoever that guy was, he had a lot of influence in both the local bureaucracy and the local umbra. This was bad, if he obeyed this guy, he was going to spend the rest of his life in here and if he didn't, Sarah would suffer from it.

"Sarika, Asenka, Cry, where are you?"

Meanwhile, Aaron's pack had been led to the alley where he had been captured. "That's the place, we picked his lingering smell around here, but we can't track it to anywhere" Sirine said.

-Well, maybe this is closer to his actual whereabouts, let's try connectin, Sarika said.

-Here goes nothing.

Cry-the-red-tear started focussing to locate Alley-Fang.

-That was chapter three. By the way, if anyone out there truly hates what I'm doing, it might be time to tell me because I'm on an inspiration roll. Can't guarantee I'll stop though.

Thanks again to FF demon-angel; she's been harassing me about a third chapter since I posted the second, feels good to be appreciated.

There will be a fourth one, and as many others as it takes to concluded the great plot developing in the twisted reaches of my imagination, until next time folks.-


	4. The great escape

"Damn it, Alley-Fang though, Now not only can't I escape but I don't _want _to escape, Gaia knows what the freak will do to Sarah if I leave without notice. Come on think, what do you usually do when you're in trouble over your neck and can't think of a plan…"

He crumbled in sitting position when he answered his own question: "You rely on your packmates…"

Meanwhile, Cry-the-red-tear attempted to communicate with his packmate via the totem link: "Aaron, can you hear me?"

But due to the interferences, on Alley-Fang's side it sounded like this: "Aaron….hear…."

Luckily, he recognized the voice…

"Cry, am I glad to hear you, I'm trapped in a DNA lab and I really could use you guy's help."

But all the other packmates heard was: "Cry….DNA….use….help…"

The werewolves attempted to communicate further but in vain, neither side could understand the other…

"Well, DNA sounds like our only lead, anyone knows where/what that might be?" Asenka asked.

"I do." answered Sirine "It's a genetic research lab on the outskirt of town. If we leave now, we should be there by the morning."

"Then there is no time to waste, let's go." With that order from their alpha, the pack was on its way.

Back in his cell, Alley-Fang had far less reasons to be optimistic. "Man, even if they do get here, it's very likely they'll get caught or killed… Gotta get my own hide outta here, there's gotta be a way…" Alley-Fang though.

"Trying to contact your little friends are you?" The speaker was once again transmitting this guy's voice.

"No idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me, I just had the pattern spider strengthen the barrier that keeps powers like mindspeak, dreamspeak or annoying totem link to penetrate those walls, I know you just tried to use one."

"Well I got good news for ya, your god damn barrier works, didn't get a damn word what they wanted to tell me…"

"Even if you could have spoken with them, any werewolf attempting to get in or out of this building will be terminated of subdued."

"My friends and I are quite resourceful; you might learn that the hard way…"

"Dream on mongrel; now just remember what I told you about Hapkin…"

The speaker was silent again.

A plan formed in the ragabash's mind, it was bold, it was risky, but in the current situation, he just had to try it.

The morning after (Alley-Fang assumed it was the morning) the speaker went on again, to transmit a much friendlier voice this time: "Hi Aaron, you slept well?" It was Sarah.

"Kind of, could you give me a minute?"

"Euh…yes of course, but what for?"

Alley-Fang focused on the totem link, he tried to see through hispackmate's eyes.

Sarika, all too happy to sense his presence once again after a nigh of walk, allowed him to see through her eyes.

Alley-Fang saw that his pack was near the entrance of a large building with "Development Neogenetic Amalgamated" written over the entrance. He sent three simple words to Sarika before the link was severed once again: "Don't come in".

Sarika knew that, no matter how carefree and irresponsible the ragabash could be, this was the kind of situation in which he knew he had to be serious, so she stopped Cry-the-red-tear and Asenka.

They concealed themselves in the bushes and kept their eyes on the front door, expecting Alley-Fang to come out, or at least to send them a sign of some sort.

Part one of Alley-Fang's plans had worked, well, he hoped.

"Ok, I'm ready for today's interrogation, but can I ask you something first."

"After all you said yesterday it's the least I can grant you."

"Did you know that everything we say through this speaker can be heard by someone else in this building?"

"Well yes, the conversation and camera footage are recorded and can be displayed live on most of my superior's personal terminals. Wait, how do _you_ know that?"

"No time for that" he took the most serious tone he could manage, "can you make sure, and I mean a hundred percent sure that no one but us will hear what I want to tell you?"

"Well, I could pick another channel but they would find it quickly, why…"

"Don't ask, just do it, it's important."

"Done, I picked a random channel, but if someone really wants to find us, it should take hardly two or three minutes…she answered after a few seconds."

"Someone in this building wants you dead because of what I told you, go to the floor level and get out by the front door, there will be three werewolves, Sarika, a tall native American girl, Asenka, a girl with short black hair and Cry-the-red-tear, a wimpy looking native American, ask them to take you to safety."

"But…"

"Quickly, he might already be on to us, if you value your life do as I said…"

"What about you…"

"I can take care of myself, now go!"

The speaker went silent. "May it be Gaia's will that she gets there safely"

Now, about getting _him _out of here…

The speaker went on again to transmit the mysterious guy: "Wanted to talk to her one on one? What did you tell her, she got out of the transmission room and looks terrified?"

"Let's just say I pulled out a speech worthy of the cruellest black spiral dancer, I did what you asked…"

"Why to her only?"

"I just figured if anyone else heard that, I was gonna be executed as a sick psycho rather terminated as a test subject…"

"I had every channel on record, it should take me about three minutes to find the one you spoke on and if you lied to me, you'll prefer a trip to Malfea to what you're gonna endure here…"

"Hurry Sarah…that's three minutes of his attention he wont focus on you…" alley-Fang though.

Trying to look as calm as possible, Sarah walked up to the elevator. As calm as possible considering every person she encountered was potentially someone who wanted her dead.

She entered the elevator and pressed the floor level button. Why did she believe blindly in what Aaron said? He could very well be lying to him just to get her away. Maybe the werewolves outside were the one who wanted her dead for knowing too much.

No, she couldn't bring herself to believe that. She had never felt so much sincerity in anyone's voice before. Plus, has he not risked his life to save hers? Was he not mauled in a hostile environment surrounded by people who didn't consider him human?

She was probably the only scientist in the facility who was willing to threat him decently, it made no sense to send her away. Unless her life was truly in danger and that he cared.

They had known one another for two days and he cared about her life. Thinking back of the scientist who asked that the interrogation would stop in favour of a battery of inhuman test, she wondered who really deserved the title monsters.

The elevator stopped at the floor level, she rushed for the front door. Once out, she saw no one…

From the bushes however, three werewolves could clearly see her.

"She sure seems lost." Asenka pointed out.

"I sense a weak Wyrm taint on her, Said Cry."

"Wyrm taint… then no one would hold it against us if we rough her up a little." said the alpha.

"What do you have in mind?"

"You create a shroud in a straight line from here to her, and then let me handle the rest."

"Ok, get ready."

The Uktena focused to evoke a cloud of darkness as commended by sarika.

Suddenly, Sarah couldn't see anything, there was darkness all around her, then she felt something huge and powerful heave her off ground and carry her away. She was too surprised to scream.

Went the light came back, she saw that she was being carried in the wood by a huge woman, nearly seven feet tall, with bulging muscles, reddish skin, long braided black hairs, slopped forehead, large teeth and abundant body hair.

She was thrown to the ground and the large woman pointed a spear at her throat. She was joined by a shorter girl with short black hair and a Native American who looked quite tired and sick.

"Now if I were you, I would stay calm and answer our questions…"

"You must be Sarika."

That sentence seemed to hit the woman like a battering ram.

"How do you know my name?"

"Aaron, well, Alley-Fang, told me, he also told me about you, Cry-the-red-tear and you, Asenka."

"You spoke with Aaron?"

"Minutes ago…"

"He's in there?" Her voice seemed to rise at every question.

"Yes."

"Then there's no time to waste, we're going in, you give me any password, key card or important info you got and get out of my sigh."

"Wait Sarika, aren't you being rash…" Said Asenka.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you find it strange, she comes out, seeming completely lost, she knows our names, she knows Aaron's deed name, we were waiting for a sign from him, don't you think he expect us to talk to her?"

"Isn't that what I'm doing?"

"She means without pointing your spear at the poor girl's throat, or using your Glabro form." Cry-the-red-tear said.

Sarika pulled her weapon back and assumed her homid breed form. "Fine, have it your way."

"Excuse our friend's behaviours; loosing a friend has made her tense." Cry-the-red-tear said.

"It's all right."

"Now, you said you spoke to Aaron?"

"Yes, I was the scientist charged with interrogating him, we don't usually talk to werewolves, but I asked for a special favour, he revealed me several things…about the triat, the apocalypse, the umbra and Gaia…"

"That idiot told you all that? What part of "the veil shall not be lifted" does he not understand?" Asenka sounded furious.

"The veil forbids us to let humanity know that werewolf exists, the people in this building had obviously found out this much. Now, what's your name?"

"It's Sarah, Sarah Hapkin."

"Why did Aaron tell you about us?"

"He said someone in the complex wanted me dead because of what he told me, and that I should go to the floor level where I would meet three werewolves, you."

"Why did he send you to us?"

"He said you could take me to safety."

"Get yourself to safety, my packmate's in there!" Sarika said.

"Well, fine, go in there and get yourself riddled with silver bullets for all I care!" Sarah's temper was starting to flare.

"Sarika she's right, we have no idea what to expect in there, we can't run blindly into trouble. Let's take her somewhere safe so she can tell us enough to mount an efficient rescue mission. I mean, Alley-Fang isn't stupid, if he was in direct danger, he would have sent her asking us to go help him, not to take her somewhere safe." Asenka intervened.

"Fine, let's go." Sarika started walking toward the city.

"Heu, we're _walking_?" Sarah asked.

"What, you expect us to carry you on our back, he said safe, not comfortable."

The four of them left in direction of the city.

Meanwhile, the voice in the speaker had apparently found the right channel.

"Sent her to your packmates for her protection, have you, well you'll have their death on your conscious, I'm sending soldiers to take all four of them down!"

"Send expendable ones; they're up against some real warriors…"

"You garou think yourselves so damn strong, how good it's going to be when I purge this world of your arrogant kind once in for all…"

Alley-Fang wasn't listening to that pointless ranting anymore, he said he would send soldiers against them, which meant Sarah was out and had his three packmates for protection, it was time for phase three…

He focused on the cell door and used open seal. As soon as the lock opened, he focused all his will on activating the one gift that would get him out of this mess…

"You're not taking out the whole race pal, 'cause that would mean taking me down and that ain't happening anytime soon…

On that, Alley-Fang jammed every technology more complicated than a spring-loaded blade in the area.

The camera, the speaker, the guard's guns, the neon lighting, everything went off. Alley-Fang got out of his cell under the cover of his blissful ignorance gift. Anyone not looking for him would not notice him and even if they were looking (and he had the feeling they would) it would be hard.

He ran though the corridors, even without light, his glabro eyes allowed him to navigate effectively, more than the guards that is…

When he came through the part of the building untouched by his techno jamming, he made himself subtler, there was light now and careful observer could see through the blissful ignorance.

Many guard walked right past him as if he wasn't there, in their mind, he wasn't. He came across an elevator and it opened. There was a man in black suit with short white hair.

The man didn't come out of the elevator, he stayed there and kept the door open, and Aaron seized the opportunity to enter the elevator.

Once in, Aaron noticed that no button had been pressed, the elevator had no stated destination, why then wasn't the man coming out? "Unless it was…

He felt a searing pain in his mangled arm and saw the man's hand squeezing it with inhuman strength…

…a trap"

"Don't even think about shifting, that elevator can't take your Crinos weigh; you're going to kill yourself."

He knew that voice; it was that bastard he heard on the speaker, he barely suppressed his rage induced urge to kill him.

"Maybe, but I would take you down with me…"

He turned around to punch the man in the face but the guy caught his fist with his hand.

Now facing his opponent, he realized in horror that the human that was in the elevator when he came in had become a monstrous seven foot tall, six armed, eight eyed humanoid with a hairy exoskeleton, some sort of gross cross between a spider and a human.

"What in Gaia's name are you?"

"I got nothing to do with that bitch mother of yours mongrel!"

He pressed the fifth basement button with one of his arm. Alley-Fang tried to outwrestle him, but he used a second pair of arm to hold him fast.

"What's wrong, surprised? Never, heard of other shape changers before?"

"What, your some sort of were-uglybug?"

The spider-beast punched him in the guts with one of its unused arm.

"I am an ananasi, the werespiders, but you can refer to me as Leicher."

"I'll refer to you as a corpse you psycho!"

Alley-Fang tapped into his inner rage to fuel an instant transformation in crinos, the elevator couldn't indeed support a ton and a half of primal fury and so the cable snapped.

The surprised werespider let go on Alley-Fang and stepped back.

"You fool!"

"I'm pretty confident that I'll survive the fall, what about you?"

He leapt forward to claw his opponent with his good arm, but Leicher jumped to the ceiling, on which he could stick, dodging the blow.

The ananasi punched a hole though the elevator's ceiling, hardly large enough to pass his arm.

"Have a nice ride." he sneered.

Alley-Fang tried to rake trough his much smaller opponent, but the latter literally dissolved in a mass of smaller spiders…

To Alley-Fang's great disbelief, the crawling carpet of vermin went though the hole, leaving him alone in the elevator…

"a crap."

The elevator had started on the first basement and was going down the bottom, to the fifth; impact was going to be brutal.

He tried to claw a bigger opening in the ceiling, but with one arm, it's just not that easy. He still managed an opening big enough for his homid form to squeeze through.

He reverted to his breed form and attempted a one armed trip on the elevator roof, where he intends to shift back to a stronger form to grab a cable of something.

"But he came face to face with his old six armed friend who had apparently been watching his efforts."

"It's small, it's hurt and it wants to live, how cute."

He grabbed Aaron by the collar and jumped off, sticking to a nearby wall with its remaining appendages.

"How nice of you to assume your breed form, this is going to work much better."

Before Alley-Fang could do a thing, the ananasi pulled out a sedative gun and shot him in the neck just has the bone gnawer invoked his resist toxin gift, he felt dizzy but still managed to shift in crinos, more weigh than a single werespider arm could hold, they both fell down.

Alley-Fang span around in the fall slammed the werespider with his elbow, accelerating its fall.

The monster managed to shoot two more sedative dart at Alley-Fang in its fall, they both hit him and the dizziness now hampered its vision.

Still, he buried the claw of his good hand in the wall and putted his hears and nails though torture has the friction between the claws and the wall slowed his fall until he finally stopped, a few meters from the bottom.

"Who's laughing now sucker?"

But he saw a bunch of small spiders form a lone mass just above him, merging into Leicher once again and he still had that gun.

"Me, actually, mongrel…"

The werespider shot the last dart needed to send him in unconsciousness.

When he woke up, he was in his breed form, locked in a small cage hanging above a pit of blades. The cage was forged from one metal he knew only too well.

"Great, I'm trapped again; this is becoming a habit of mine."

((And that was chapter four; once again, at the risk of sounding redundant, I would like to thank Milie AKA FFdemonangel. Thanks also to Guillaume, who takes on the heavy mantle of storyteller every Sunday for us and inspired many of the characters. Gotta thank my latest fan, Manu, who also pushes in my back so that I continue

By the way, I have very little experience with both the ananasi race and free falling elevators, so if anything in this fanfic contradicts the ananasi book or the basic laws of physics (notably gravity), please let me know.

also, sorry about the "" but the for some reason, the dash won't display))


	5. Unholy alliance

Alley-Fang surveyed his surrounding more closely; he was suspended six meter over a blade filled pit in a cage forged entirely from silver. He was in homid, so silver wasn't burning him, but it jammed his gnosis and to make matter worse, his arm, not fully regenerated, hurt like hell in this form.

On his right, another poor soul seemed to have fallen in the same trap. A man was suspended by the shoulders over the pit; well man might not have been the best term. The creature had bat hears and nose, scar pattern all over his body and his skin and hair were completely white. Probably a metis and judging by the spiralling pattern on his chest, a black spiral dancer metis.

From where he was, he could see two armed guards on the side of the pit, beyond them was a large metal door, the only thing that actually hinted he was in a scientific facility; the rest of the room was sculpted from rock.

"Ok, this could be worse…" he looked at his still bleeding arm , the bandage had been torn by his shape shifting and it was no longer regenerating "…then again, maybe not."

Meanwhile, Alley-Fang's pack was making its way back to the city with Sarah lagging behind them.

"Would you mind waiting for me?" She protested.

"Get a move on, we already have to walk on two legs to accommodate you, we're not also going to slow down to your pace, or it's going to take us the weeks." Sarika replied.

"Could we at least take a break, I'm exhausted…"

"we've hardly been walking for twenty minutes!"

"And that's about the longest time I've spent on foot in years!"

Sarika growled in exasperation. "Fine, we stop, for five minutes, and then you'd better keep up the pace."

The whole pack stopped. Cry-the-red-tear took a bowl and used a gift to fill it with water, which he shared with the three women. His two packmates were use to that kind of "miracle", but Sarah was amazed. "How did you do that?" she asked, hesitatingly drinking from the bowl.

"I just did, it's what we call a gift, a bit of spirit magic we werewolves can do, given proper practice and tutelage."

"Aaron made all sort of refuse fly around a room to hit a Wyrm creature, was that a gift too?"

"Yep, it's called trash magnet, Alley-Fang learned that from a trash spirit." Asenka said.

"A trash spirit?" Sarah asked, unsure if it was a joke…

"A trash spirit, everything as a spirit."

"Am I the only one who heard there's a Wyrm creature in that building, you know, the one where our packmate his held captive…" Sarika intervened.

"There _was_ a wyrm creature, we killed it. Well, I assume it was a Wyrm creature, given what Aaron told me about them."

"And that thing that wanted you dead for knowing too much?"

"I can't tell, I mean, I didn't actually see it, Aaron just told me it was somewhere in the building."

Sarika only grunted. "Say…" Sarah asked "…what exactly his you guy's relationship with Aaron?" Cry-the-red-tear raised an eyebrow and Asenka looked at her with suspicion.

"Well…I mean, his he like family, or a friend or…you know…more than that…" She was looking from Asenka to Sarika as she said that.

"In every aspect save the bond of blood, Alley-Fang and I are sibling." Sarika answered, not looking at her.

"In case that's what you wonder, he and I are just friends, for that matter, going further than that would be illegal." Asenka said.

"Illegal? You're underage or something like that?"

"The three of us as well as Alley-Fang are part of a social unit called a pack, the bonds that ties us, like Sarika said, makes us like sibling." Cry explained. "As for the illegal business Asenka was referring to, our laws forbid two werewolves from mating with one another, such relationship giving birth to…."

"GLS-2…"

"Pardon me?"

"We…had this kind of werewolf under study, those who seemed to be born in the wolf-man form, often with some unexplainable physical or mental deformity. It's long been a wonder why, knowing that, two werewolves would engage in such activities."

"We call these bastard child metis. I'm one of them. The reason for these deformities is a sign of Gaia's displease at us, for we are the product of incest, not in flesh but in spirit, as all werewolves come from the same spiritual family."

"Your explanations really put my colleagues at shame, their theories may have scientific bases, but they sound ridiculous compare to what you're saying…well, once you accept the umbra and the spirits as a fact."

"Say, what was your interest in knowing me and Sarika's relationship with Alley-Fang?" Asenka asked teasingly.

"I...I was asking to all of you, what was that suppose to mean! We've rested enough, let's go." Sarah replied, distinctly blushing.

They all stood up and they heard a gun shot. Cry-the-red-tear fell to the ground, reverting to his crinos breed form, there was a dart in his back. The two Arhouns felt their rage flare as they saw their packmate fall; they took cover behind trees and took out their weapons. Sarah looked away from the unconscious form of the metis and swallowed an anti-delirium pill hastily.

Unaware of these events, Alley-Fang was getting bored, hungry, thirsty and was bleeding badly. So many way to dies so little time, he though.

The great metallic door opened and the sigh of the creature stepping through threatened to send him in frenzy. That wretched eight legged freak, Leicher. "Now, now, calm down, you don't want to assume your war form in a small silver cage now do you?"

"There you are. I've wanted to talk to you ever since I woke up."

"Oh, and about what?"

"The decoration here sucks man, what's with the whole creepy dungeon and suspension above blade pit thing, this isn't the Dark Age anymore you know. That some sort of twisted arachnid fantasy of something?"

"Ha…why did it have to be a new moon?" He said rolling his eyes. "Well, rejoice, I've brought you and you're little cellmate food and water."

"The black spiral dancer was still sleeping."

"How nice of you, if I didn't know there's a catch I'd actually be thankful."

Leicher shifted to his six armed form, crawled to the ceiling and climbed down the chain anchoring Alley-Fang's cage to the ceiling until one of his six arms was within reach of the cage. He threw a bowl of grey paste that looked like the result of a cooking gift, only worse tasting and a bottle of water.

"Care to tell me why keeping me alive is such a great concern, I somehow doubt you're just a really compassionate guy."

"I actually need you and that other guy (he pointed the dancer) for my personal sustenance."

"What?"

Leicher jumped from Alley-Fang's cage and onto the sleeping dancer, who woke up, surprised by the impact. "NO! GET OFF ME YOU BLOOD DRINKING ASSHOLE!"

The fallen garou tried in vain to throw off Leicher, but his arms were bound and the werespider seemed use to that kind of acrobatic feat. He sank two prolonged canine, not much unlike a vampire, into the dancer's skin. His prey stopped fighting back at this moment, leaving Leicher the luxury to feed on his blood as he pleased.

He let go shortly after and stuffed something in the dancer's mouth. "There, swallow that, all you need to stay alive and healthy, wouldn't want my herd to get sick…"

"When my pack comes here and set me free it's gonna be my pleasure to tear your legs off one by one…"

"We already talked about that, remember? Your dear pack will never make it here alive, nor his (he pointed Alley-Fang). But rejoice, now you have a cellmate to keep you company, I wouldn't want you to get any madder…"

"Enjoy this while you can, filthy Weaver spawn, neither you nor anyone who does not serve the Wyrm will be spared when the great corrupter's time come. And it will come _very _soon."

"That so? Well unfortunately for you, I'm afraid the all consuming Wyrm's day of terrorizing this world are counted. But keep hoping, if it makes you happy."

He jumped off, landed near the pit's border and headed toward the door. "I'll leave you now, I'm sure you're dying to know each other better." He walked out.

"Hi! I'm Alley-Fang, ragabash of the bone gnawers!" He said with stupidly cheerful tone.

"Great, as if a servant of the bitch mother wasn't enough, it had to be a trash eating clown."

"You know, you should be nicer, especially to the guy who's got a plan to get us out of here."

"What? You're pack's gonna come and save you? Hate to admit that, but wall crawling psycho is right, ain't no way in or out of this place."

"Don't know about a way in wyrmspawn, but I'm sure we could claw our way out of here with enough surprise effect." He had started to talk in what little Garou language he could manage with his human mouth.

"We? You don't seriously expect me to cooperate with you?" He also used the Garou tongue.

"Well, you "could" spend time, energy and probably a fair share of blood trying to take me down once we're both out of here, who knows, you might even succeed, or we could rationalize that we aren't the most direct threat to one another's life and try to cooperate against our common blood drinking enemy and make it out of this damn complex, where we can resume the whole Gaian Garou vs. black spiral dancer thing."

"Assuming I agree to help you in your little escape plan, how the hell do you expect to get us out of here?"

"Well you see, there is a fatal flaw in every plan, and in Leicher's plan…"

He got two items out of his pocket, a dart gun and a silver key.

"…to assume he had figured out every trick in the trickster's bag."

The metis's twisted face seemed to smile.

"Taking the forgotten, that makes you a Fostern, if I'm not wrong."

"Yep, I took these two from Leicher when he came within arm reach, now not only does he miss a key and a gun, he forgot he ever had them…"

"You know, I might just cooperate with you yet; your skills could be useful in getting out of here. I'm Slice-The-Heart, galliard of the black spiral dancers, a former child of Gaia and a Fostern like you."

"Ok, just don't tell me where you got that deed name and we should be able to orchestrate a successful escape plan."

He loaded the gun and aimed at one of the guard.

Meanwhile, Asenka and Sarika were waiting for their enemy's next move in Glabro form. The fire had ceased, but they seemed to know they were there. Sarika told her packmate, via the totem link, to stay under cover.

She readied her spear, pledged the spirit within it to help her and steeped out of cover. The five men spotted her immediately but Sarika's reflexes, sharpened by the spirit of the fray gift, proved superior to theirs.

She hurled the spear at the men, a clap or thunder and a crackle of lighting accompanied the fetish weapon on its way toward its goal. The first soldier was impaled by the spear and fried by the storm spirit's power, the spear continued through the hapless man and onto the soldier directly behind him, burying in his chest. Sarika took cover again immediately upon releasing the spear, dodging most of the counter fire, but a single dart struck her arm.

She felt dizzy for a second but shook it off. She was more resistant to that kind of poison then Cry-the-red-tear, whose wasting disease made him easy picking for that dart.

"They're using tranquilizing dart, which mean a low rate of fire and easy to resist, let's teach them not to mess with full moons."

"I'm right behind you."

The two werewolves shifted to crinos and charged the three remaining soldiers. The men tried to shot them, but the dart either bounced back their skin or didn't slow them at all. Within short seconds, the two monsters were upon them, rending them to pieces with teeth, claws and rage.

Standing above the savaged corpses of the DNA soldiers, the two arhouns howled in triumph. Sarika picked up her spear before returning to their fallen packmate.

Sarah saw the two monstrous wolf-women come back. The sound of shattered bone, rend flesh and splashing blood had reached her, even though she refused to watch this carnage. Seeing them now, there claws and fangs dripping with blood, she realized that the two women she had spoken with earlier were gone, two terrifying beast stood at there place, snarling between them and looking at her with feral eyes.

The anti-delirium pill kept her from begging their mercy as she usually did under the delirium, but it didn't seem like such a bad idea know that she was within claw reach of Sarika, who seemed to have no love for her to begin with. That made her wonder, who was the delirium meant to protect, the werewolves or humanity?

Asenka reverted to her human form. "Ok, relax, I know everything she says might look like a threatening snarl, but she's really talking to me in the Garou tongue. With Cry down, we're gonna have to travel in crinos, our other forms are just too weak to carry him around."

"I'm sorry to be such a dead weight…but I don't think the anti-delirium pill I took will last this long."

"hey, you're not dead weight, ok? Aaron thinks you're worth all that trouble then we'll give ourselves all that trouble."

"Your alpha seems to have a different opinion…"

"Sarika was going to to the DNA lab with hope to be reunited with Aaron and she got you instead, no offence. She's plays though, but the truth is, she's scared to death of loosing a packmate, and taking you to safety means getting away from Alley-Fang, and she won't forgive herself if anything happens to him before she can at least try anything to help." Asenka whispered her.

"I see. So how are we going to do this?"

Sarika and cry-the-red-tear vanished. Sarah felt slightly better now that the two crinos form werewolves were gone.

"Well, she will carry him in the Umbra and you will take a little hispo form ride."

"Hispo form?"

Asenka turned into a huge, feral looking, black dire wolf and made Sarah understand she should climb on her back. She did and Asenka started to walk at a good pace toward the direction of the city.

Alley-Fang shot the two guards one after the other, using the build up rage all those events had granted him to enhances his speed. They both fell heavily on the stone floor.

He unlocked the cage's door with the key and threw it away. "This is the tricky part." He jumped from his cage to Slice-The-Heart, catching one of the leather straps holding his arms. "Wonder why he used leather rather then chain…"

"To make sure it breaks if I try to assume crinos form."

"Makes sense."

He assumed glabro form and chewed the strap he wasn't holding with his teeth. It resisted, but it eventually broke, leaving the dancer to hang with only one arm.

"Now what?"

"Grab on to me, I'm gonna chew the other one, once I'm done, you're gonna jump off, I'll follow."

Alley-Fang chewed, Slice jumped off, he followed. That wasn't in the ragabash's habit, but for once, one of his plans worked on the first try. It couldn't have come at a better time too.

They both headed to the huge door, only to realise it was guarded by a keyboard lock: "Damnit!" Alley-Fang said.

Slice-the-heart stepped up and typed the code, the door opened. "Been here for a week and I didn't intend to stay. I had more then enough time to learn the sequence by heart."

"See, I knew we'd make a good team."

"Show me your arm."

Alley-Fang raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, you're not useful to me one armed, show it to me."

He showed the dancer his mangled left arm. He placed his hand over it and invoked a gift. Within seconds, Alley-Fang's arm was good as new.

"That's gonna leave a battle scar, not that I intend to let you live to tell this tale."

Alley-Fang picked the assault rifle on one from the downed guard and the clips from the other; he threw the second rifle down the pit.

"That little baby's loaded with silver bullets, don't force me to use it on you until we make it out, ok?"

"We're in for a tense cooperation I see."

"Hey, I said I was willing to help you, trusting you is another matter."

"Right back at ya."

"Let's go, if we hurry we might catch back with Leicher."

"He's mine." He snarled.

"Come on, can't you share the fun?"

"MINE!"

"Fine, fine, he yours, jeez relax…"

"Wish they kill one another" he though.

The two werewolves stepped into the complex corridor, uneasy about each other, unsure of what was awaiting them.

(((And a fifth chapter folks. Thanks to the person I usually thanks in this section for the reasons I usually mention. (They know I appreciate it).

If anyone as suggestions, pairing they'd like to see, character they'd like to see die or live, other WOD faction they'd like to see, I'm open to them. (Note that for personal reasons, no amounts of review are going to convince me to make Alley-Fang or Sarika die))))


	6. Blood drinkers

Alley-Fang and Slice-The-Heart walked trought the metalic corridor, checking every corner, expecting armed guard anytime. They trashed every security camera on their way; somehow their escape had to be the hot topic around the facility.

Or maybe they couldn't care less, there might very well be no way out of this part of the complex for them, they were trapped in this network of aseptic corridors until they died from hunger, or kill each other out of boredom.

Alley-Fang tried not to think too hard about that possibility, in the best scenario, Slice-The-Heart wasn't gonna back stab him as long as they had Leicher as a common foe. In the worse one, the black spiral dancer was, like the majority of his tribe, a psychotic congenital beast all too willing to have the bone gnawer's heart as his last meal.

Just that though chilled his spine, but he showed no signed of it, as his pack totem, weasel once told him: "A fool has no fear, a hero _shows_ no fear".

"Some hero I am…" he though.

He was snapped out of his reverie by three armed soldiers turning the corner in front of them. They sent message in walky-talky, readied their guns and timed their attack…

That's about all they had time to do before a whirlwind of teeth, claws and white fur was upon them, rending them to pieces where they stood. Slice-The-Heart stood in the middle of the three bloody corpses in crinos, his fur soaked in the blood dripping from his fang and claws.

"I might not need your help at all after all, gnawer."

"Let's not forget who got you out of the blade pit room." He loaded the rifle. "Or which one of us can fire a volley of silver bullets faster than you killed those poor guys, if that's not reason enough for you."

"Whatever" he took one of the dead soldiers's arm and chewed a huge piece of it from the bone.

"Hey, what do you think your doing?"

"Eating, I'm hungry."

"No way! From now until we get out of here, no eating human flesh for you."

"Says who?" he answered with a threatening snarl.

"Says a pissed of gaian Garou who's starting to remember the second tenet of the litany." he said, raising the gun.

"You keep hiding behind that Weaver tool, sewer rat, it'll make it all the more enjoyable to feast on your viscera once were out, of before that if you outlive your utility…"

"Right back at ya, except for the viscera eating part, that's just gross…"

They both got back on their way, leaving the mauled soldiers behind. Alley-Fang wished they would find Leicher soon, if that black spiral dancer didn't blow off some real steam, the bone gnawer would have to dispose of this unlikely ally, leaving him alone in hostile ground short a few silver bullets, not to mention that brute just might manage to hurt him…

Meanwhile, Cry-The-Red-Tear had awakened in the umbra, he and Sarika had gone back across the gauntlet to finish the road in the material world, along with Asenka and Sarah.

Sarah was still riding Asenka's hispo form and was starting to get very uncomfortable, not from the werewolf's back, but from the snarling and growling the three huge wolves were using as a language. For all she knew, they could be talking about a convenient plan to get rid of her quickly.

Asenka had tried to reassure her, sure, but her arguments had far less impact while she was still soaked in warm human blood, however noble the werewolves cause might be, to Sarah, they were still dangerous and unpredictable. Even Aaron had been terrifying when he faugh with the escaped werewolf in the lab. She had quickly liked the man, but no amount of anti-delirium pill could quell her fear of the nine foot tall monster he could become.

Her fear was not supernatural, it was the only logical response to what she had witnessed, no matter by sickness or spiritual blessing, they were still human whose mind and body could become those of savage beasts, dread was inevitable.

Aaron's pack assumed their humans forms. The city was in view and hispo forms were not a stubbles way to go in.

"We'll take you to Asenka's apartment, where you can tell us what we need to know to get Alley-Fang out of there." The Alpha said.

Sarah only nodded, it's not like she cherished the idea of opposing Sarika. They entered the city, it was quiet, what few people still walked the street took pain in avoiding the three werewolves. Sarika was leading the way, followed by her two packmates, occasionally taking a look back to make sure Sarah was still behind them.

As she moved pass a back alley, Sarah felt something pull her in the shadows. She couldn't see to who the arms holding her belonged, but she saw two pale looking teens, a boy and a girl, licking their lips. She tried to scream but the one holding him held is hand on her mouth. She heard a man's voice whisper in her ear: "Now, now, it's pointless to struggle, I'm simply too strong…" and indeed, this man's grasp was unnaturally powerful.

"We should have grabbed the three others, the one with short hairs would have made a nice ghoul…" the boy said.

"Bah, not worth it, we would have been outnumbered and the guy seems sick, not a very tasty meal…" The girl replied.

"Meal?" Sarah though "They intend to eat me?"

"Be quiet, or they'll hear you, now let's just drink her dry and get out of here." The man holding Sarah ordered the two teens.

Then, Sarah felt a searing pain, as if two sharp needles had just pierced her skin. The pain only last a moment and was immediately followed by an ecstasy she had never known before, an exquisite, stubbly painful pleasure unlike anything she had never felt. She felt blood leave her body but was helpless to fight back, he entire mind clouded by her current euphoria.

She felt her skin pierce again, on her wrist this time, she saw that it was the girl…biting her and the pleasure intensified as she felt more blood drained from her body. She was feeling dizzy; maybe it was the loss of blood, or the overpowering ecstasy. Either way, she felt her life slowly drift away, powerless and unwilling to do anything about it.

Then, she felt the needles in her neck brutally pulled out, ringing her back to the painful reality of her blood being consumed. The drinking in her wrist ceased as well, and she heard Cry-The-Red-Tear's voice in her ear: "Close your eyes, it will do the same as the pills…this is about to get messy"

Still disoriented by the sudden stop of the euphoria in favour of the pain in her neck and wrist, Sarah closed her eyes, unwilling to add up the delirium to her already very messed up mental state.

She heard the three blood drinker's screams, barely audible under the unfortunately familiar sound of two crinos rending flesh and bones. The pressure was too much for her, she fainted.

Meanwhile, Alley-Fang and Slice-The-Heart had come across a room that seemed like an office. There was a desk, a (password encrypted) computer, a locker and, of course, a security cameras. Slice-The-Heart unsubtly ripped the locker's door and removed something from it, a Crinos size decorated dagger with a red streaked black blade.

"My klaive, that idiot should have destroyed it, now I can use it to dice him up."

"Is there a handheld gun in there too?"

"No, just my klaive."

"Then where is my fetish?"

"Right here." A voice behind them said.

Alley-Fang turned around just in time to see Leicher point a gun at the black spiral dancer. The bone gnawer knew that weapon only too well, it was is.

"A very interesting weapon you brought along, mongrel, but you should know better than carry silver around, lest some people use it against you…"

"Fat chance, bugboy, the spirit inside that gun is attuned to me; you might as well threaten me with a squirt gun."

"This is the end, spider freak!" The fallen Garou had used up what little patience he had and leapt toward the annanasi, in war form, bearing fang and klaive.

Alley-Fang heard three shot, ducked just in time to dodge the three silver bullets coming out of Slice-The-Heart's back and saw the (presumably) dead body of his unlikely partner fall on Leicher.

The dancer's body was hurled to the back of the room as the now transformed werespider threw him off. "Ah, the followers of Whippoorwill, impulsive, brutal, insane for the most, I doubt anyone will miss this fool."

"Ok, either that's not my weapon or you did something to it…"

"This fetish works thanks to a weaver spirit, it didn't take much for it to forsake you in favour of a more…dedicated servant of the Weaver."

"Fine, I guess I can use this instead, one volley of silver coming trough!" Alley-Fang pulled the trigger of the assault rifle and cribbed the werespider with a full clip of silver bullets.

When the smoke cleared, Alley-Fang heard the clicking sound of bullets hitting the ground and saw that only two of them had pierced Leicher's exoskeleton, the rest falling harmlessly on the ground.

"Are you done? Unless you have some other way of humiliating yourself before I finish you off?"

"If I'm about to die I'd like to know why, one strafe of that thing could slay 20 werewolves, yet it barely scratched you, how did you survive?"

"The ability to change shape and the affinity for the spirit world is all our races share mongrel, I do not serve Gaia and I have not received Luna's so called blessing. No auspice or rage for the annanasi, but then again, no vulnerability to her forsaken metal either."

"Ok, silver isn't your Achille heel, are all of your kind also immune to getting an entire clip emptied right in their face?"

"No, not all, but I'm not your average Werespider, I'm my kind's equivalent of an elder among werewolves, my skin is just too thick for that kind of weapons…"

"Guess I'm better come up with a plan C fast…"

"That was your plan B? Did I miss plan A?"

"No, plan A was to unload a clip on you, plan B is, pretty much as always, reload the gun and try again, but that wouldn't work now would it?"

"No, as I said…"

"So, before even trying my plan B, I have to figure out a plan C, go it?"

"…this is a waste of my time, just die you annoying new moon!"

From the corner of the room, an annoying yip came from the huge white body of Slice-The-Heart. Leicher tilted his head in his direction just as he shot, the distraction leaving time for the bone gnawer to duck under the desk.

The black spiral dancer sprang to his feet, despite his wounds, and charged toward the werespider. Black venom oozed from his claws as he latched out blindingly fast at Leicher, each strike accompanied by a snarl of pure hatred.

For all his intentions, Slice-The-Heart dealt little damage to his opponent, his claws bounced off the werespider's thick hide with only shallow cuts as witness that an enraged werewolf had savagely slashed this spot. After this frenzied rampage, the dancer felt to the ground, visibly weakened by the three bullet wounds, rage had dimmed the pain, but now it was over.

"Pathetic fool, what were you hoping…?" Leicher pointed the gun at the kneeling werewolf's head. At this moment, Alley-Fang assumed his war form and hurled desk over Slice-The-Heart's head and at the werespider's face. If the black spiral dancer wasn't done yet, he could still be useful to him, alive that is. His skin might be thought, but he was still lighter than the solid wooden desk the Crinos werewolf has just hurled him. He seemed to have a hard time getting out from under the desk. Like a cockroach, Alley-Fang though, hard to kill, but ridiculously weak.

He helped Slice-The-Heart back to his feet and picked the fetish gun Leicher had dropped. Apparently, the werespider was stuck under the heavy furniture for quite a while. "Forget about me, Gaian, I'm just a thousand pounds of death weight, I can barely walk, just get out of here, I'll inflict him as much damage as I can before he gets me."

"Abandon you here and save my own hide? Tempting, but I think I'll stick around a while longer, I'm pretty sure we can get rid of him, if we each grab one end and pull hard…"

He picked up the twisted weapon that black spiral dancer had dared to call a klaive and he walked toward Leicher. The werespider still had one of his six arms free and was slashing the air with his claw to keep the armed werewolf away. Alley-Fang caught the arm and easily overpowered the meek werespider, twisting the member beyond the articulation and snapping it. Leicher howled in pain and spat something incomprehensible between his mandibles.

Alley-Fang raised the klaive, he might not have the power or the will to attune to it, but if stabbing him repeatedly with a pointy object on the head was the way to get rid of the werespider, he would gladly do so.

Then, the six armed humanoid transformed into a hispo sized spider, and burst from under the desk, pinning the surprised werewolf to the ground, making him drop both gun and klaive. He held the hooked spinnerets dripping with venom away from his throat, while looking for the right place to sink is own fangs in the spider's head.

At the entrance, a bunch of armed guard had just appeared; ready to gun him down should he escape the giant spider's grasp. With Slice-The-Heart down, the situation was…grim at best.

Sarah woke up in a living room she didn't know, she was lying on a couch and she felt sick. There was a bandage around her neck and another around her wrist and both hitched horribly. On the sofa next to her, Asenka was sitting; she was a little taller and hairier then before, surely this was her near-man form, she was holding something on her arm. When she noticed Sarah was awake, she called for the others: "She's ok guys!"

"Ok, not really, let's just say I'm alive…"

"Don't be silly; you look great, if a little pale."

Sarika and Cry-The-Red-Tear entered the room.

"Nice job, as if we didn't have enough trouble because of you already, you force us to trash three leeches." Sarika spitted.

"Of course, we all know how much you hate fighting vampires…" Asenka answered, referring to her alpha's personal vendetta against the undeads, which had earned her the deed name: Bloodhunt.

"That's not the point; it slowed us down considerably, not to mention you were bitten in the battle."

"I'm fine, it'll be gone by tomorrow, now Sarah's not to blame for this, it's not like she offered her neck to those bloodsuckers."

"Excuse me! Are you saying those things were vampires?" Sarah asked in a panicked tone.

"Yes, blood drinking predators of night, vampires are as real as we are, you're lucky to be alive."

"..Bu…bu...But, they bit me, won't I become one of them…" She seemed terrified.

"No, that's not how it works, they were out to feed, not spread their curse, you're not becoming one of them, but they sure took a lot from you."

"I…I…I couldn't fight them off, when they bit me it was like…"

"Like the most euphoric experience in your life, you knew it was harmful to you yet you enjoy it to much to fight it off. Believe me I know…" Asenka was rubbing her neck; apparently she had been bitten as well.

"Enough about those vampires, they're gone now so lets focus on the DNA lab." Sarika said.

"One of them got away however…" Asenka remembered her alpha.

"Let him enjoy a few more nights of his wretched mockery of a life, now we've lost enough time." The tone was rising. "Now, Sarah, what do we need to know to get to Aaron?"

"The day as been hard for all of us Sarika, we are all tired. We should rest; we all need it, especially Sarah." Cry-The-Red-Tear interfered.

"But Alley-Fang is…"

"Alive and healthy as far as Weasel can tell, we spent the day running, fighting and some of us…" he turned to Sarah and Asenka "…got blood siphoned out of their body. We are in no shape to mount an effective rescue mission."

Sarika felt silent for a moment, visibly seething, knowing full well that once again, the philodox was right, not matter how much she hated the course of action he was suggesting. She had not survived all this time by dismissing the Uktena's wisdom.

"Fine, we rest, for now."

She left the room.

"You two should try to sleep; we have a lot ahead tomorrow" Cry-The-Red-Tear left as well after telling this to the others.

"How do you put up with this, I mean, black spiral dancers, vampires and all that stuff…" Sarah asked Asenka.

"Black spiral dancers are easy to deal with, claws and fangs are the best way, as for vampire well, I use to date one so they don't really impress me…"

"You dated a vampire?"

"Yeah, in full knowledge of what he was too, I realise now I didn't really love him, they have a way of manipulating your feeling…they…force themselves as the most important person in your life, even when you realise how much you hate them, you can't act against them, it's like trying to hurt the one person you care most about, no matter how much, deep down, you hate him."

"Sound's like an insidious form of slavery, how did you get out of it?"

"It _is _slavery. One day, he decided to make me one of his own, I would have much rather died, but it was his wish and I couldn't got against it…I "loved" him. But all these conflicting feelings were more than I could take; it awakened my werewolf blood, and triggered my first change. Is insidious manipulation had a grip on my feeling, but a frenzied werewolf knows no love, no compassion, no restrain, rage was all that mattered. All the resentment, all the bitterness I had toward him, I was free to let it loose as my body changed, for the first time to Crinos. When I became aware again, all that remained was a little dust, for most werewolves, the first change is a horrible experience, I was lucky, in my frenzy, the only thing I killed was that undead bastard."

"He was, trough trickery, the one person you cared most about, and you brutally murdered him with no second thoughts?"

"Rage can make us do that, I learned a little restrain since then, I can manage to avoid my packmates while in the grip of frenzy…but don't take me as an example, me and Sarika are arhouns, warriors among the garou, we are those most prone to frenzy, Cry and Alley-fang are much less subject to it than us."

"Yeah…I guess I'd better not get too much on Sarika's nerves…"

"Would be better for your health, not that she _wants_ to hurt you, but she's on edge right now. But enough about my race's volatile temper, you should sleep, as Cry said."

"Yes, thank you."

Both women slipped into sleep.

Alley-Fang surveyed the situation, giant spider on top, silver bullets armed guard on the right, knock out Slice-The-Heart on the left; he needed a way out fast.

Slice-The-Heart's voice echoed in his head: "I'm gonna distract them again, use that time to vanish, I assume you can, as a new moon."

"What about you."

"I don't need your concern bone gnawer, I'm a black spiral dancer, we're enemies, we've just putted that aside for the time being, but it didn't go out as planned. Now, what's going on in here is bad, for both the Wyrm and Gaia, someone needs to stop it and it damn sure can't be me, so it better be you than no one. Now get ready, here I go"

The fallen metis got to his feet, towering over everyone in the room, he howled in anger, daring them to take him on. Leicher and the armed guards focused all their attention on the doomed black spiral dancer, cribbing him with bullets before the werespider could take the bite he intended.

Alley-Fang waited until no gaze was on him and vanished in blissful ignorance, rising to his feet and heading out of the room. He could still hear Slice-The-Heart, clinging to his life thanks to his rage, vainly trying to take out his opponents before finally falling. What was going on in this complex that a black spiral dancer would give his life to save a gaian garou in the hope that he would stop it? Then again, Slice-The-Heart had once been a child of Gaia, maybe the black spiral didn't completely stripped him of his former self…

The more important thing now was not to get caught, Alley-Fang strode through the corridor, trying to put distance between him and Leicher, he had to either find a way out of at least, stop whatever that weaver addicted annanasi had going on in this facility.

(((I know, I know, it took me forever to update, I have little excuse, too long a story anyway. About your suggestion cadazar, I'll _try_. Mage is the only world of darkness main faction which book I haven't read. If I can get my hand on mage, the ascension, I might try having a mage in the story. Well, that's all for now folks, I'll try not to take 3 months to update this time…)))


	7. Static X

Alley-Fang ran trough the corridor, unseen but hopelessly lost. The gift of blissful ignorance would keep him hidden from sight, but surely the people in this facility had other means to track down rogue werewolves.

And as if things weren't bad enough, he had to figure out what was going on in this complex that was bad to both the Wyrm and Gaia.

"Man, I'm having a really bad day" he thought.

The hallway he was running trough led him to a large open room that seemed to be a supply depot, there were crates everywhere and trucks that seemed to have come by a large garage door at the far end of the room, could this be a way out?

There were two people talking with a short, fat man who seemed to be the truck's driver, one was a woman with a white blouse, the other a man in black official looking suit. Aaron briefly considered shifting to Crinos, ripping the garage door to shreds and running for his life, but his curiosity took over and he sneak toward the three persons talking, hiding behind crates (he was invisible anyway, but he knew the gift wasn't infallible, especially with Leicher on his tail.

"Well, the truck driver said, it's all there, if you no longer need me…"

"You, of course, have told no one of this cargo, or where you were taking it?" the man in the suit asked with a hint of a threat in his voice.

"Not a living soul sir…"

The man frowned and, Aaron could have sworn, growled at the driver.

"…Just a matter of speech sir, I didn't tell any one dead either, no one really." He babbled, seeming terrified.

"Good, you may leave now."

"With all due respect sir…I'm…heu…kind of running low…"

"Oh, yes of course…"

The Man in suit raised his sleeve and brought his wrist to his mouth, where two sharp canines tore the flesh and let blood pour trough. He raised his bleeding wrist over the man's head and let a few drops fall in his open mouth. The fat driver swallowed every drop as if his life depended on it, bowed slightly and headed back to the truck.

"Did you have to do this in front of me?" The woman asked in disgust.

"This would be a bad time for his loyalty to wax, wouldn't it? So close to our objective…"

"It is _our _objective, Mister Wendell, it just so happen to benefit you enough that you would finance our operations. Your ghoul's loyalty his considered no more certain than yours in that matter, and we do not trust you."

"I can't blame you for being suspicious, knowing what I am. But do not worry; your project greatly benefits me, as well as my colleagues. We will live long, Miss Clark, and even longer when we are rid of the less…reasonable shape shifters…"

"Very well then, you can tell your prince that in twenty four hours, project static X will be putted in motion, until then, your presence here is no longer required."

"One question though, Miss Clark. How do you, and the other werespiders, benefit from all this?"

"This world is dying Mister Wendell, it is beyond saving and it will never get better. We will make sure it never gets worse, and that it never ends. Just like the werewolves, we seek to prevent the apocalypse. But our cousins are blinded by their rage, seeing the apocalypse as a battle to be won. We see it as a more or less natural disaster to be prevented. That is what project static X is all about."

"Glad to know I'm more or less involved in an attempt to save the world, although my main benefit in this is the drop of the werewolf number in the world, and thus a drop in the depredation they practice on the kindred."

The two were interrupted by Leicher barging into the room in spider-human form, followed by soldiers. Alley-Fang judged that this might be a good time to make a run for the open garage door and get the hell out of there.

"The bone gnawer has escaped, did you see him?" the spider shifter asked them.

"There is a werewolf on the loose in his complex!" the vampire in black suit asked in panic.

The woman simply pulled out a gun and looked around nervously; apparently, Leicher was the only being strong, or foolish enough as to not fear a fight with a werewolf in this room.

So much as he would have enjoyed ripping the two werespiders and the vampire's throat out, he now knew that something big was going on in here, and he would need his pack, and maybe a couple more werewolves to even the odds.

He shifted to hispo and ran for the garage door. It led to a long underground tunnel, which eventually got him out in the open. The night sky the fresh breeze, how good all that felt after 2 days in an aseptic weaver controlled facility. He lifted his eyes toward the sky, where he met with a reassuring sight, the gibbous moon shined down on him, setting his heart ablaze with the fire of rage.

He tested the nearby gauntlet, which became much thinner as he walked away from the building, until he finally managed to change world, entering the umbra. The spirit world felt much better after so much time on the wrong side of a very thick gauntlet. Free, he had managed to get free!

"Alley-Fang, is that you?" a familiar voice resonated in his head.

"Weasel? It sure is good to hear you again, where is everyone?"

"The rest of the pack is sleeping at Asenka's apartment, along with that human girl. They will be quite relieved to know you are safe. Come to the city, I'll meet you on the way."

Knowing better than argue with his totem spirit, Alley-Fang started to stride toward the city, enjoying every second of his renewed freedom.

Meanwhile, a very scared boy was running trough the city's back alley on a soar leg. The boy had just learned the hard way just why the rest of his kind insisted on staying hidden.

"So that's what the masquerade is for…screw the humans, from now on, I'm hiding from the werewolves."

After seeing the rest of his anarch coterie brutally rend to pieces by angry shape changers, following the camarilla's tradition seemed like a much better idea, the prince, at least, wasn't a nine feet tall engine of destruction.

He was heading toward the Elysium; the pain in his mangled leg reminding him that one of the werewolves had almost tore it off. But he had at least managed to shadow them and learn were they lived, maybe this would convince the prince to forgive his open defiance.

He reached the Kindred meeting ground, guarded by a large, muscular ghoul who seemed to recognize him on the spot, as he drew a wooden stake.

"Calm down, please, the young anarch pleaded (he was in no shape to fight), I come to surrender to the prince, I have information he might need…"

"The prince does not speak with the likes of you."

"Even if they have info about the shape changer wrecking havoc on the local kindred?"

The ghoul posed for a second and considered the young neonate.

"Fine, follow me, but if you give me half a reason to do so, I'll stake you and bury you in my backyard."

"Sure…" the vampire said, following the ghoul inside, where several kindred looked at him with haughty disgust. He cared not for the opinion of these arrogant undead, who preferred to embrace ancient rules than use their newfound powers to enjoy the eternal life that was given them.

Soon, he would have to become one of them, to get involve in their twisted politic, to become involved in the power play, in the complicated circle of alliance and treachery he had always hated. The depth to which he'd sink for survival disgusted him.

Soon, the arrived before the elder ventru, the city's prince, his name was Jonas Malcolm. He was wearing a casual tie and jacket suit and seemed to be discussing with one of his female ghoul…

He was slightly annoyed at the interruption…

"Under what possible circumstances would this low life be allowed in my presence?" he asked the large ghoul who had escorted the anarch.

"Sorry sir, he says he has information on the werewolves, I though you might want to hear it."

"Mister prince sir, the young vampire started, my coterie was decimated by a pack of three werewolves, and I followed them to their haven afterwards, I know where they live, what they look like, surely this will benefit the kindred in all the city…"

The prince didn't speak for a full minute…

"Very well, what you knew, no so do I. These werewolves however, will not be a problem, as I've had a call confirming that in twenty four hours, the number of shape changers inside this city will halve. And within days after this, the last one will be hunted down by specialized squat formed for this sole purpose. All this, anarch, has been in motion for five years, neither then nor now would such a trivial information would have bought you forgiveness for your treachery and insubordination. Now, you shall join the rest of your coterie, in final death…"

Before he could react, the neonate was staked in the heart by the ghoul that had brought him there.

"So it is true master, the werewolves will be destroyed soon?"

"On a planetary scale if all goes well, the city will then be ours to rule. Now please get this useless boy incinerated…"

A phone rang while the ghoul walked away; Jonas Malcolm answered his cell phone.

"Jonas Malcolm…" he listened to the person on the other side speaking "…WHAT!"

Back inside the complex, Leicher was seething. He was walking trough the corridor in human form, for he was in a part of the complex that didn't know of his four other arms. All the searching had confirmed one thing, that wretched street rat had escaped. Mister Wendell, his go between with the local vampire prince was heeling him, making a call with his cell phone.

"Sir, this is Wendell, one of the test subject has escaped Leicher's facility, there are good chances he knows that _we _are involved in project static X."

"I know sir, it also seems that one of the facility's human employees has deserted them and joined with the pack of the deserter, Leicher believe they will all meet in town…"

"Sir I know this is beyond what we…"

Leicher took the phone right out of Wendell's hands

"Now listen you rotting corpse, you find me those werewolves and you keep them away from here, or no static X, go it? I don't care how important you are to the rest of your kind, if you want this to work, you keep those fury brutes away from the complex…I don't give a shit how, just do it!"

He closed the phone.

"You probably shouldn't have done that, Mister Malcolm doesn't like being bossed around." Wendell said.

"I don't care about your prince's ego, I've worked too long and hard, and he's invested too much to see this project fail."

The werespider's tone let room for no reply from the vampire. They reached the office they were looking for, that of Professor Mark Hapkin.

He entered the room, interrupting the scientist in his reading of a file. Professor Hapkin raised his eyes over his glasses and putted down the file.

"Yes mister Leicher, what can I do for you?"

"Doctor Hapkin, I have filed report that indicate that _you _have putted the case of GLS-1H-24 in your daughter's hands."

"Yes, Doctor Sarah Hapkin asked for a psychological analysis of GLS-1H-24 and since this is what she has been hired for and that she assured me it was the only patient showing progress with her methods, I assume it would be good overall for the project."

"The subject has escaped, and we believe your daughter as something to do with it, as she has gone missing for a full day."

"I fully trust Doctor Hapkin, not because she is my daughter but because she his a smart and responsible young woman, if GLS-1H-24 managed to escape, I'm sure it was by his own mean."

"Unfortunately, my opinion differs, I as of now dismiss you from your current duty, you are to find your daughter and bring her back to the facility within twenty four hour, fail to do this and you will be fired."

"You can't do this!"

"Yes I can, now please be off and don't come back without Doctor Sarah Hapkin, ever."

The old scientist reluctantly gathered his stuff and left the building under Leicher's scornful eyes. Once he was out, Wendell spoke his mind: "I must admit I do not understand why you are doing this."

"I have good reasons to believe that the escaped werewolf will join with his pack, which I believe his safeguarding the Hapkin girl as we speak…"

"Doesn't that doom the Professor?"

"You vampires often get on the bad side of the werewolves, you wouldn't know that they tend to show restrain around humans. The pack will not attack or even transform in front of him; and you probably never observed the two Hapkins together, when the father asks something and insist, the daughter obeys. Unable to explain the situation to him and to disobey him without a good reason, she will be forced here without a werewolf escort, at our mercy."

"I see."

The two men walked out of the office, now assured that the werewolves would be stalled long enough that they would not interfere with their plans.

Sarah woke up feeling a little better, she had been even to tired to have nightmares, she felt rested and was ready to assist the werewolves in any way she could.

Asenka had woken up before her and walked into the room wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, she had similar clothes in her arms.

"Hey, I though you might want to get changed, after you have a shower and breakfast of course…"

"Thanks, you're sure your alpha won't want me to spill all I know as soon as possible…"

"Sarika is sleeping, and _I _think you should be treated like a human rather than a file containing vital info, the bathroom is on your right at the end of this corridor (she pointed the right direction) and if you'd rather eat, the kitchen is right this way."

"Thanks you." She stood up and went for the bathroom, she really needed to wash.

After a few minutes, the two other werewolves joined Asenka…

"What do you mean she's in the shower?" Sarika growled.

"She's washing, she really needs it, she got into two battles involving trained soldiers and vampires, she got bitten in the later and she's been under overall great pressure, can't we give the girl a rest?"

"She's right, Sarika, it's not like a few minutes are going to doom Aaron, beside, we could use some breakfast too." Cry said.

The alpha was about to answer when the door bell rang, Asenka went to answer.

"I'M HOME!" a familiar cheerful voice rang trough the apartment!

"Aaron?" the three werewolves asked in disbelief.

The bone gnawer walked into the apartment right past Sarika until he was in the middle of his packmates.

"What, aren't you happy to see me?"

Sarika walked up to him and hugged him strongly.

"Hey, I need most of those ribs you know…"

He gently pushed back the alpha, who seemed a little ashamed of her overreaction.

"We thought you were prisoner in the DNA lab."

"You actually though there was a somewhere on earth a prison that could keep me locked up?"

"I see the recent events haven't made you humble." said Cry-The-Red-Tear "It's reassuring."

"For the records, I'm glad to see you're fine too." Asenka added.

"Hey, don't take me wrong, I'm glad to see you guys too, but I will unfortunately have to cut the touching reunion, 'cause we have two important matters at hands…"

"Such as…" Sarika asked.

"Well, you guys did take care of Sarah while I was getting out of there, right?" Alley-Fang asked.

"Asenka, where did you put those clothes you…" Sarah, who had just come out of the bathroom, stopped talking when she saw Aaron. It was hard to tell whether she was happy to see him, embarrassed by the fact that she was wearing only a towel or both…

"Hey there, he simply said, if you're done, I'll need the bathroom too, been running in the woods half the night."

Asenka grabbed the clothes she had intended for Sarah and brought her to the bedroom.

"I'm sure you two have got all sorts of things to talk about, but it can wait until she has clothes on…"

"What was that on her wrist?" Alley-Fang asked, turning to his packmates suspiciously.

"Bite marks, from leeches, Sarika said, we lost sight of her for a second after escorting her from the DNA lab to here, oh and she didn't get hurt during the gun fight either and last I check, she was alive!" Her tone was rising trough the sentence, she really expected more gratitude.

"Sarika!" he interrupted.

"What?"

"I really appreciate what you did, considering it involved blindly following a plan orchestrated by me. Thanks for that, I see it's been hard on you."

She fell silent.

"Your welcome." She finally said.

Asenka and Sarah got out of the room, wearing very similar clothes, they joined the three others and they all sat around the living room, waiting for Alley-Fang to reveal the other matter at hand.

"Guys, the DNA lab is hiding a much larger complex, where vampires and werespiders are planning something called static X…

(((That's all for chapter 7, yes, yes, I said it wouldn't take me three months… but this time I have a rather good excuse that can be summed up in five words:

Hard drive

Scraped

No

Backup

Files

That being said, thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, I really appreciate it.

Stay tuned for chapter 8 (I'm not swearing anything for this one, lest something else comes up)


	8. Reunion

"But sir, what _can _we do, it will be day break in less than a hour." the toreador advisor told the prince.

"If we were powerless every hour the sun is up, we would not be holding this city in our grasp, we have agent that can work during the day." John Malcom answered, pulling out his cell phone.

"Is it really a good idea to send ghouls against shape shifter? I mean, event with silver bullets and vitae enhanced power, they still don't weight up against a whole pack." The advisor insisted.

"I don't care whether the lupine or the ghouls die, there is no sacrifice to great for the success of project static X, and this success involves those werewolves staying away from the DNA labs..." He finished composing the number on his cell phone "Hello, this is your prince; I've got a job for you…"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"…and what _is _project static X?" asked Cry.

There was a moment f silence; everyone was gazing intensely at Alley-Fang, who had closed his eyes and seemed to be in deep reflection.

"Come to think of it, I have no idea!" he finally admitted.

"You idiot, I'll dare you get us all stressed up about this when you don't even know what's going on!" Asenka scorned him.

"Look, I might not know the detail, but I know it involves werespiders, vampires, something about preventing the world from ever getting worse and treating the apocalypse like a natural disaster rather than a battle. There was also something about how this thing would radically drop the number of werewolves in the world. Did I also mention they were putting it in motion within 24 hours?" He explained.

"No you hadn't, but you've got me convinced, what is going on in this place is dangerous for the garou nation and must be prevented, get some food guys cause we're going right now!" Sarika said, standing up.

"Actually, I'm afraid the four of us won't be enough…" Alley-Fang admitted "…there are a bunch of armed guards in there, plus one freakishly strong werespider, several weaker ones for sure and a couple vampires." He said.

"Your suggestion?" Asneka asked.

"We go convince the rest of the sept to give us a hand, its not like they have any advantage in letting us deal with it on our own." Alley-Fang said.

"Are you sure their going to by all that? No offense, I believe you but it is quite an incredible story." Asenka said.

"This is a bone gnawer sept Asenka, they know I wouldn't kid about something so important, Sirine will take my word for it and that's all the politicking the rest will need. What I'm worried about is the rabble…" Alley-Fang admitted.

"The rabbles?" Sarika wondered.

"There are several kinds of werewolves among the bone gnawers Sarika. Those who joined either attracted by Rats philosophy of generosity, dirty fighting and survival, or because they already lived on the streets before the change or because they wanted to take part in the battle of apocalypse but wouldn't be taken by anyone else, Metis make up a lot of this last one. Whatever the reason however, once taken in, which is ridiculously easy considering all you need to do is be a werewolf, there are two paths a gnawer can take, hero or rabble.

The rabbles make up most of the bone gnawer. They are those who joined the tribe with the idea of survival a little too close at heart. This is all they do; they hang around the bawn of the sept and survive. They do not help with tending the caern, fight the Wyrm or even do anything that might gather them any renown. Most of them aren't even cliath and they are the reason why the tribe is seen as the bums of the Garou. The tribe elders do not whip them into doing something useful, they took them in, saved them from ronin status and in exchange they ask for and give nothing, let and let live if you will.

The heroic bone gnawer path is the one walked by those who wish to rise above that, to gain renown among the nation, those who follow Rat with pride and conviction, who are not ashamed to call them bone gnawers and who are out there to show the rest of the nation that the bone gnawers are just as much werewolves as the rest of them.

Needless to say, that's my path." He explained.

"Ok, so what about the rabble, why are you worried about them, you got a little carried away in your tribal patriotism there..." Asenka asked.

"There are more than enough werewolves in this sept to assault the DNA lab, but it's a matter of quality over quantity you see, half the sept are bone gnawers rabble you, I'm afraid, won't move a finger to help us." Alley-Fang grunted.

"But we're talking about potential end of the Garou race, surely they will care!" Cry shouted out.

"Any other werewolf would be whipped in a fighting shape by the very idea of a threat at a racial level, but not the rabbles. They don't care about being werewolves, they take no pride in their origin, and most of them consider it a curse. Their greatest wish is to be left out of the conflict and just survive as long as they can, living the same empty lives they had before they changed. They would defend the sept, if only because it shelters them from bigger and prouder werewolves who see them as a waste of food, but stand up and take the fight to the enemy, that's a lot to ask them." The bone gnawer said, sounding ashamed to admit that such werewolves shared his tribal totem.

"What can we do then, that would leave only a handful werewolf on our side…" Sarika said.

"That's where you come in!" The ragabash said cheerfully.

"Me?" the alpha wondered.

"Yeah, these lazy shape shifting bums need to be drilled into fighting shape quickly, who better than the highest ranking arhoun around to do it?" Alley-Fang continued.

"It's worth a try, we all know you can be an inspiring leader." said Cry-the-red-tear to the alpha.

"Just like you a skilled diplomat, my philodox friend, if Sarika's got to put some rage back into them, you've gotta try to appeal to what little honor they might have. We could also use a Galiard to put some pride and conviction, but then again, me and Sirine as fellow gnawers just might do the job." Alley-Fang explained.

"What about me, I just sit down and watch?" Asenka asked, grunting about being excluded.

"Now how useful would that be, werewolves sitting by and watching is exactly what I'm trying to prevent, aren't you following?" The ragabash said in a friendly mocking tone.

"Aaron was merely making suggestions; he knows final decisions come down to me. And of course Asenka, I know better than to keep you apart, I may be the highest ranking arhoun, but that's only because we've had no time for the proper rite yet, your achievement far surpass your rank." Sarika assured.

"Thanks, sorry I overreacted." said the youngest of them gratefully after a moment of silence, such open appreciation wasn't commonly worded by the alpha, although it was often felt.

"Well then, it's settled, let's eat, then we go convinced the rest of the sept to launch a counter static X project." The ragabash said, heading for the bathroom.

"Eating and THEN saving the world, he sure hasn't lost his sense of priority." Asenka said sarcastically.

Sarah went after Alley-Fang before he entered the bathroom, she had remained silent, listening to them and not understanding half of what was going on. "Wait Aaron…"

The werewolf turned back to her.

"…I didn't get all that, but…you're going to attack the DNA lab in force…you and several other werewolves?" she asked, uneasy.

"Our priority will be to assault the complex where they work on static X, but I can't answer for the rest of them, when they discover humans using them as test subject, they might not take this as lightly as I have…" he said, trying to sound comforting. "I know your father works there, and that most of the scientist and soldiers there believe they are doing the right thing. I will do everything in my power to minimize the losses, but mine is a prideful, violent race and I can't assure anyone's safety…" he continued, as if he had guessed her every concern. "I'm sorry…"

She remained silent for a moment.

"It's not your fault, I understand." She finally said.

On that, he entered the bathroom and she joined the rest of the pack in the kitchen. This whole situation had gone completely out of her control; she was sitting in the apartment of what she was starting to realize were four strangers with inhuman abilities and volatile tempers, listening to them planning an assault on her workplace while knowing that even if she did object, she would certainly not be listened to. And then again, they seemed to have very good reasons, even if she didn't get all the details.

She stood up, went to the window and, under the rising stress, took out her pack of cigarettes and lighter.

"You shouldn't smoke at all for that matter, but if you really can't help it, you should pick another brand that Circinus." Cry-the-red-tear told her.

"Why?" she asked, why shouldn't she take the cheapest brand and why was that any of his business?

"Wyrm tainted to the core, that's why, you'll destroy your soul as fast as your health with these, plus they are insidiously harder to drop that any others." he explained.

She looked at the pack of smoke in her hand. She wasn't a big smoker, one or two every day or so, did these things really left a spiritual taint on her? Having already though of giving up for the sake of her lungs, she threw the pack in the garbage, her soul was one thing she wasn't gambling with.

"Good decision, but keep the lighter, you never know." said Alley-Fang as he came into the kitchen.

"So anyway, what happened in there exactly?" Asenka asked Alley-Fang over a plate of eggs.

"Well, that night when I went out for my patrol shift…" the ragabash started.

But he was interrupted by a cell phone ring tone, the sound apparently coming from Sarah's pocket. She made an apologizing gesture and answered.

"Hello...oh hmm…over at a friend's apartment…yeah, I didn't feel to well so I left work early…what, he escaped, I had no…oh please that's ridiculous…he can't do that! But it's really important and…ok, I see…yeah, I get it…ok meet you there…me too, bye." she closed her cell phone, seeming disappointed. "Should have turned the damn thing off!" she said, talking about her phone.

"I'll assume it was bad news…" Alley-Fang said.

"My father, he said our boss think I helped you escape and he want's him to bring me back to the lab of my father gets fired." She said angrily.

"That's preposterous, I escaped by my own means…" said the werewolf with false consternation "…but seriously, you can't go back there, surely that eight legged bastard Leicher will use you as a human shield first chance he gets." The bone gnawer said.

"Leicher…that's our boss precisely…what about him…" she asked, worried.

"Well it's my pleasure to tell you you've been working for a spider shaper changer all that time and that the guy in question is one of the big shots behind the whole static X thing. Now, you can't go back anywhere near those labs, 'cause the reason he wants you there is as a hostage in the best of case and in the worst...well, I'd rather not think about the worst of case." He said, remembering what Leicher had done to him and Slice-The-Heart.

"But my father will get fired if I don't go…" she said, knowing this probably wasn't a good reason to them.

"Your dad won't have a boss left when I'm trough with this facility that's for sure, because Leicher is number one on my "to kill" list once I get in there." Alley-Fang added.

"Ok fine, how do I put this to my father, sorry dad, I'm not going back to work but don't worry, a bunch of werewolves are gonna break into the labs and tear Leicher to pieces anyway?" she asked.

"Preferably not, we'd like to keep some measure of surprise effect." he said.

"Then what? I'm supposed to meet him at his place in ten minutes." she replied, growing impatient.

"I'm thinking about it…" he said, seeming lost in his thoughts.

"Right… I've had enough of your insane plans for today thank you; I'll handle this my way, you, me and Cry go warn the elders, Asenka will go with Sarah." Sarika said before anyone else could add anything.

Alley-Fang raised an eyebrow, surprised. He could have sworn Sarika only mildly appreciated Sarah, enough not to let her separate the pack at least. The rest of the pack had not been oblivious to this either: "Are you sure, I can go you know…" Cry said.

"We need you to stir the rabbles." She said, ending his protest there.

"And not me?" Asenka said, growing angry again.

"No offense, but while it could be use, your help is not indispensable." The alpha replied.

"Do I event get a vote in this?" Sarah said "I can handle my father alone anyway…"

"No, for all we know this might be a trap, She's going with you to make it a point that he's not calling the shots until all threats have been removed from the DNA complex and make sure your safe, the last thing we need is that Annanasi hiding behind you." the pack alpha told her harshly.

"Your way or the highway then?" Alley-Fang asked sharply.

"Now is not the time for questioning the way of the higher, this is a time of war and as alpha my words are final!" she said with authority.

"Tyrant." The ragabash said care freely.

"Look, if you've got a better idea!" she replied angrily.

"Chill out, I'm just kidding, you're absolutely right, we'll do things this way, right guys?" he asked the two other packmates.

"Mph, fine." Asenka said while Cry nodded.

"Ok with you?" he asked Sarah.

"Doesn't seem like I have a choice, but yeah, its ok." she said, looking over at Sarika, keeping her eyes down.

"Sorry to toss you around like that, it's just we lead a dangerous life and we're trying to keep you out of harms way." He said, standing up and walking up to her. "When this whole mess is dealt with, you and I will have to talk, again." He said smiling.

"Weird to think ours longest conversation was when you were locked in a glass tank…" she added, smiling back.

"Manacled…" he added.

"Bathing in silver saturated water…"

"And naked…" he finished smirking. She blushed; the three other werewolves raised eyebrows.

"But there is a time and place for pleasant memories, and it's after the world is safe for yet another week, Sarika, Cry, you coming?" he suddenly said, his tone changing to his usual, carefree dismissing of the most dire danger as if it was just another small obstacle. Nothing ever sounded hopeless when he led the way.

They all walked outside, there separating into two groups, Cry, Sarika and Alley-Fang in one, Asenka, Sarah and, though the mortal girl had no idea, the pack totem following in the spirit realm.

"Go easy on her, ok, none of this is her fault, if you need to blame someone, blame me." the bone gnawer told his youngest packmate over the pack bond, a request that was heard only by them both and the weasel.

"Of course, blaming you sounds good." he heard back, but he knew the arhoun wouldn't really hold this against him.

"Thanks, I know it's on hell of a mess I've gotten us into, worse than that time with the dragon, but I see I can still count on you guys." He added still in her mind.

"Don't mention it, now hurry up, we've got less than twenty hours." She ordered him over the link, all the while remembering the terrible battle that had the four of them battle a dragon shaped wyrm creature all by themselves. They almost got killed but through nothing short of relentless assault, they brought the terrible beast down, earning the pack the title "dragon slayers".

And thus, the two groups parted, each in their respective direction.

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Meanwhile, very far away from there, in the DNA underground complex, a tall man with long white hair, thin facial feature hinting food and sleep depravation and cold, ever still gray eyes was working on a complex machine that consisted of a large metal beam forming a hollow spherical cage in the middle of which was a swirl of green energy. Electrical discharges coming from socket on the metallic structure stroke the strange phenomena at regular interval, making the chaotic swirl stable for brief seconds before it resumed its constant flux.

Leicher walked into the large room in which this device was operating, a room guarded by several Annanasi trained for battle, a couple armed vampires, several autonomous battle drones and, at the head of them all, a human for whom the left side of the head, both arms, a large part of the chest and the right leg where replaced by cybernetic prostheses, the man having lost his real limbs in an accident. His brain had also mostly been modified, he had very little free will and was completely loyal to Leicher's cause, just the way the werespider liked his servants.

"Mister Keeper…" the werespider hailed the man working on the device, the only person in this room actually working for that matter "…how goes the progress?"

But his interlocutor ignore the question, protesting against the name used instead: "I told you spider, several time, times and times again, it's not Mister Keeper, or Keeper or any of that, I am The Gatekeeper, you refer to me as Gatekeeper." He commanded in a deep, steady, emotionless voice.

"Forgive me Gatekeeper, it as simply been so long since we last spoke…but please, I need your update on the machine, our sponsors are expecting results for tonight." Leicher said, dropping his usual superior attitude in front of this deranged looking individual.

"The machine will work, it as been calibrated, it as been recalibrated, all calculation have been made, it's perfect, and all it need is the fuel…" he said in the same sober tone.

"All the werewolves in the facility will be at your disposal, there are over 20 being now held in hour complex, 10 of them are already set for the harvesting process." Leicher assured.

"Perfect, but we will need more, get them all ready, we might need up to fifteen of them to power the Statis-matrix." He said, looking at his machine with what seemed the pride before a life's work.

"It will be done; you make sure this device is ready to work for tonight." Leicher added.

"It is already ready to work, shape shifter, all that his stalling us his need for fuel, and the need for the right time…" the Gatekeeper said.

"Of course, I will leave you to take care of this." The Annanasi said.

"Do so, spider changer." The white haired man said.

Leicher got out of the room swearing under his breath, he was greeted by one of his assistant, Diana Clark, a fellow werespider.

"How much longer will we have to put up with that demented lunatic?" the young annanasi asked.

"He wields power that no shaper changer could ever hope to grasp. He and his machine are our only shot at static X. As long as the operation is not completed, we will need to keep him under the illusion that he his in control. The need for control and order is all that drives him to conduct this project; power has gone over his head it must seem." Leicher said.

"Like you said sir, he wields power unfit for a simple mortal." She said coldly.

"What he doesn't realize is that when he's done, no one else will ever wield such power, ever." The werespider concluded.

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"Just how far does your father lives?" said the werewolf after half an hour of following Sarah trough the city.

"Without a car, quite far, what are you complaining about anyway, you're the one who should be in better shape of us both." She replied, curious.

"I'm not tired, just bored, we've been walking far too long." The other woman replied as a man passed near her seeming extremely uneasy, probably due to the Arhoun's dormant rage.

"You'd rather been with them right? It's obvious you feel you've gotten the lesser task." Sarah said, trying to understand why Asenka, the one in Aaron's pack that seemed o appreciate her the most was so distant now.

"Yeah well, they might go around saying there is no such thing as an omega in our pack, that we're all equal under Sarika, but that's not always how it feels. I know it's important to keep you safe, it's not like I don't care, but yeah, I really wish I could have gone with them." She admitted

"It seems I've caused you guys a lot of trouble, for all its worth, I'm sorry." Sarah said.

"Nah, don't worry, you got dragged into this, it's not your fault. And beside, looking back, I would have probably protested if Sarika had no sent anyone with you, if Aaron had not first of course and then it would have only made sense to send me. It may not be obvious, but Sarika cares what happen to you." she added.

"Not obvious, I really had the feeling she hated me for a while!" Sarah said.

"No, Aaron cares and, though not in the same way, so do I…and cry probably does too, Sarika cares about us and thus, about you." she explained. "Pack dynamic is really weird sometimes."

So the werewolf alpha didn't hate her after all, if only because the rest of her pack didn't. But then again, maybe she had just been too quick a judge of character, Sarika had been under great pressure when they first met, maybe that's why she seemed so aggressive. Then again, it might have been her werewolf rage.

In fact, nothing was what it seemed lately. The GLS she though were victim of a sickness that she could explain thought science and cure with medicine, but it seemed they were in fact mystical warriors in a battle unknown to humanity. She had though that their ability to disappear was explainable, it happened to be shifting in another world, one she had never seen and never would, but somehow, since she had started to believe in it, she could almost _feel _it. The people she though wanted to save humanity from a plague were really monsters in disguise trying to manipulate her to their own ends.

Many thing she had accepted as face value had proven to be false. What was she, blind? Why could she not see any of this before? For all she knew now, every one who looked normal could be something more, like this guy walking behind them, keeping his distance because he's intimidated by Asenka's rage. But was it the real reason? Something about him…she couldn't really make it out, but there were definitely "bad vibes" coming from this guy.

She turned to look at him and at once couldn't believe her eyes. Overlapping the man was what seemed to be an immaterial green creature. It deserved the term "creature" because it seemed to have eyes and tentacles whirling around, otherwise its anatomy defied the scientist's comprehension. It seemed to be moving with the man, as if some part of this improbable, transparent creature was…anchored, to the man. She turned right back and looked around for someone, anyone who might have also noticed that there was a monster straight out of a mad man's nightmare walking behind her.

Silly, if anyone could it had to be the woman next to her (and strangely, no one else seemed to bother).

"Asenka, that man behind us, look at him…" she whispered.

The werewolf turned back to take a peek and looked at Sarah, confused.

"What, about him?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean "what about him?"! Can't you see the green creature over him?" she turned around again only to see that, in fact, the man now looked normal.

Most people would have simply dismissed such claims as hallucination of insane ranting, but Asenka, unlike most people, seemed to take her seriously, frowned her brow and turned back to face the man with renewed concentration.

"Crap, your right, he's got one hell of a Wyrm taint around him, could be a vampire but seeing as though it's broad daylight, it must be a fomori…" Asenka whispered.

"A what?" she asked.

"Never mind that, stay here, I'll handle this." The werewolf said, heading straight toward the man who had been stalking them. The Wyrm tainted man didn't seem too eager to meet a werewolf face to face and took of in a nearby ally, Asenka after him.

The alley in question led to a dead end.

"I'll show you what happen to creepy stalkers…" the werewolf snarled, shifting to her Glabro form.

"I wanted to wait, dog, for my fellows to be here, but if you really must take the fight to me, beware. Beware the power a man can get from the eternal night masters, and the dark gods of hell!" the man screamed before his mouth became a gaping maw filled with pointy teeth, yellow eyes appeared all over his face and his arms turned into spiked tentacles.

Sarah, who had not listened to the young arhoun and followed her, saw all this from the corner of the alley. The man and the "thing" that was overlapping him were now one, a monstrous hybrid ready to tear Asenka apart unless…

And the werewolf had though about it long before Sarah, she had no time to take a pill, or even turn away, the transformation was already under way when she even though of it.

Asenka shifted to crinos.

But as she did, and even after she started clawing away at the monstrous creature (soundly winning the fight without any serious injuries), Sarah felt no different. Somehow, for some reason, she could look at the hulking wolf-woman in the full, terrifying glory of her war form and not freak out. She was still scared that this fight would launch Asenka in frenzy and that she would rend her apart, but without any special drugs, she was even now witnessing the action of a crinos werewolf.

As soon as Asenka was done with the beast (quite quickly) it's corpse reverted to a more human looking one, Asenka threw it in a dumpster, washed her hands on a nearby catwalk and headed back to meet Sarah, only to realize the young scientist had witnessed the whole thing.

"Shit, are you alright, did you see me in crinos…" Asenka asked, panicked that she'd have to deal with post delirium denial.

"Yeah, all of it, I remember it perfectly…and I took no pill." Sarah answered, as if trying to convince herself.

"But how, how did you know this man was possessed by a Wyrm spirit and how did you manage to resist the delirium?" the young arhoun wondered.

"I…I have no idea." She admitted. She went back to the street and looked around at the people passing. They had no idea what had just happened. They were oblivious to the supernatural conflict that had occurred under their nose. They had always been. All of them, they were just as she was before she met Alley-Fang, blind to the truth, caught in the lies of society, science and religion, denying the existence of those that really pulled the strings of their world.

But just now, she had, if only for an instant shook of her blindness, she had just _seen_. Seen the world as it really was, when even a werewolf had not noticed. But one question remained.

How?

Guess what guys, it's possible to kick you own butt, the proof, I wrote an 8th chapter. (Took me forever again and I've just figured out why: I happen to be lazy.) Now then, which one of asked for mages to pop out? I haven't played ascension much, but I hope all you mage fans out there appreciate. For the location transition, I've added a bar system that might make it a little less confusing, hope it works. By the way, is it obvious what my favotire Garou tribe is:)

Thanks to all reviewers, you guys are the best!


	9. 24 hour to the end

"YOU WORTHLESS WASTE OF CRASH SPACE!" the young werewolf growled, sending a glabro punch to the apathetic rabble's face.

Whenever she'd let him, Alley-Fang usually found a way to solve most problems between garous in a non-violent matter and if he didn't, she mostly took the front and solved things her way, that is, brutally.

"SHUT UP AND LEAVE US ALONE, THAT WAS OUR DEAL!" the rabble werewolf howled as he took his war form to strike back.

But now she was confused, what was she to do when it was her appointed diplomat who got rowdy?

Alley-Fang had explained the situation to five of the local rabble but was met with their predictable apathy. None of them cared what was going to happen, it was "no their fight" they said.

After Alley-Fang, Sirine, Cry-the-red-tear and herself tried to appeal first to honor, which none of them had, then to pride, which they had little and finally to sense of duty, they had claimed not to have any duties: "The deal was that if we joined your tribe, we could just live as we wanted and not be bothered, we have no duty, not to you, not to this sept if it's not under attack and certainly not to any "nation". We're bone gnawers for God's sake, if the world needs saving go get the silver fangs!" was their final answer.

And before anyone else could react, Aaron was all over this youngster, beating him up, first in glabro and then in Crinos to match the rabble in power. He four other stood back, not wanting to get involved into what was growing to be a rather brutal exchange or claws and fangs.

"Alley-Fang, stop this at once!" the sept leader ordered. Sirine had, to the best of anyone's recognition, never solved anything not involving the Wyrm trough violence and was definitely not approving of the lower ranking ragabash's actions.

Aaron immediately tripped the younger werewolf and pinned him to the ground while raising his lupine head toward the elder and growling in garou tongue: "I know it is the tradition of our tribe, Sirine, but in dire time, traditions must be overlooked. We need them on our side and if they will not be convinced, then unfortunately they will have to be forced."

"Are you even listening to yourself, my friend, you spit on the teachings of mother rat by holding this kind of speech, we cannot force terrified, untrained youngsters in a fight against such powerful opponents, its unfair to ask that of them!" she replied.

"Rat as many aspects Sirine and one of them teaches us of strength in number. We need all of them, the odds are too great to just let them sit this one out, this may not be the apocalypse we have foreseen, but it is a dire threat to us all nonetheless. We don't have time to call the other tribes; all we have to work with here are our sept members and their packs. The sooner we drill that into their head, the sooner we can get them ready for the coming battle. It's harsh, I know, it's unfair to them, I know, but we have little in the way of alternative. Please, try to understand." He said as he transformed back to Glabro.

Sirine closed her eyes, frowned and gritted her teeth before answering, after a few seconds: "Curse that Leicher guy for what must be done…Alright, I hate to break it to you guys but he's right, when we accepted you, we said we wouldn't bother you as long as you kept to yourself, but that really only held until our final days, and it seems like it's this one, now I don't care that you believe what Alley-Fang said or not, but there is one and only truth you have to know: Like it or not, you will have to fight for your survival tonight!"

The crinos rabble tried to fling him off his back, but Alley-Fang nimbly dodged him and went back to where he was standing before this outburst. One of the other rabbles, a young girl with mousy hair who looked unhealthily thin stepped forward: "I…hum…I will go with you…" she said timidly.

"Yeah…us too" the rest of they said, not sounding entirely convinced.

The one who had fought Aaron shifted back to homid: "Not like we have a choice, is it?" he growled bitterly.

"Right, so now follow us, the sooner we gather you, the sooner we can get you battle worthy!" Alley-Fang cheered, going once again back from dead serious to overly cheerful.

"Impressive speech, I didn't know you could…" Cry whispered to him.

"Be all serious, resolute and convicted? Yeah, I hated that too…did kinda like beating some tribal values into that kid tough: "call the silver fangs" he said, right, _that'll _happen." The ragabash whispered back.

Sarika followed the rest of the group, wondering how it could be that after being in the same pack for so long, alley-Fang could still surprise her.

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"What do you mean "you have no idea", you tell me you saw the bane overlapping this fomori, that's impossible, human aren't supposed to see immaterial spirits." Asenka pressed on, completely at a loss for any explanation.

"I'm telling you, I don't know how I did it, I just did, I turned around thinking that man was maybe more than he seemed and it became crystal clear that this….bane you called them, was "over" him. What was that thing anyway?" Sarah said, no more able to explain the phenomena.

"A fomori…and a ghoul actually, both at the same time…fomori are human who are possessed by spirits of the wyrm, called banes and ghouls are human who were fed vampire blood to make them stronger and tougher…as well as a slave to vampires. It seems we've made more enemies than we thought, and they're either stupid of desperate if they're willing to strike in broad daylight…" the werewolf continued.

"Does that mean…they could be after my father?" Sarah asked.

"Maybe… we should go on, quickly, we can figure out how you managed to see the immaterial and overcome delirium later, for now we must make sure your father doesn't drive you back to this lab." She concluded, getting back up and walking back toward the street.

"Yeah, let's go…" the young human said with little conviction. Just when she though she was getting the hang of everything that was going on. Now she had to deal with weirdness even her new werewolf friend couldn't explain. It was then that she saw "it".

"Should there be a transparent weasel walking by your side?" she asked tentatively.

Asenka turned back, wide eyed: "You can see Weasel, our pack totem?"

"I can see _a_ weasel…" she said as the spiritual animal turned its furry head toward her, watching her with the same inquiring look as the werewolf "…don't know about any pack to…" but she was interrupted by a high pitched voice that belonged to neither her nor Asenka.

"This young lady is definitely full of surprises; it's uncommon, even for shape changer to be able to peer through the gauntlet, let alone a human…" the voice said, and she could hear it as if it was told aloud by someone near her…but there was only Asenka and her lips didn't move.

But she did hear her voice however: "I didn't though it was possible, human are among the most spiritually dead creature on the planet. How can any of them develop such a skill…on such short notice?"

"Maybe she always had that gift, but it was dampened by her exposure to strong weaver taint…" the high pitched voice replied.

"But it's not like this city wasn't badly tainted too…" Asenka's voice went on, while her lips weren't moving at all.

"Sorry to interrupt Asenka, but how's it going with Sarah, we're having some marginal success with the rabbles over here…" that was Cry-The-Red-Tear's voice…

Sarah backed away, and shook her head violently, why was she hearing all this.

"Would you people stop talking about me as if I wasn't there!" she screamed, attracting some very weird look from the passerby…but the weirdest came from Asenka and the furry creature.

"You….heard all this…?" she asked, somewhere between scared and angry…

"Let me guess, I shouldn't have?" she answered nervously.

"You certainly should have not…" she said, grabbing her by the arm and hurrying her along on the street while keeping her close enough to whisper.

"…this was our totem bond, the spiritual link that unites our pack, only the four of us and Weasel can use it, it is a manifestation of our pack's unity through our totem's ideal, and you're telling me that YOU, a human, is capable of eavesdropping it!" she growled.

"I…I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" but she'd just about had it with this, what she being accused of here, it wasn't like she actually did anything.

"…Hell no, I'm not sorry, I have nothing to be sorry about, I didn't mean to hear any of this and I'm just as surprised as you. Something really weird is happening to me and the last thing I need is you getting angry at me about it!" she said, surprising herself and Asenka. Somehow, she felt less intimidated by the arhoun now. She still knew Asenka to be a short tempered shape shifter with a mean temper, but she seemed, for some reason, less threatening than when they first met…or maybe she was just pushing her luck.

"Alright." The young werewolf said, apparently annoyed. "Your right, this isn't your fault and we have no time to look for answers. Let's just go already…" she concluded as she resumed her fast paced walk.

"And…hum…" Asenka added hesitantly.

"What?"

"Sorry…" she said under her breath.

Sarah didn't answer she just followed the garou to her father's apartment building, wondering why so many insane things were happening to her in so little time.

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Back at the DNA lab, two scientists were running some observation on a sedated GLS-2's regenerative ability when the head researcher walked into the room, closely followed by his personal lab assistant and several armed soldiers.

"Sir, with all due respect, now is not a good time…" the first researcher said, dropping the scalpel he was about to use to cut the humongous crinos metis open with and turning to face his boss.

"Your experiment is discontinued, this test subject is to be transferred to another part of the facility and the two of you assigned to another project." answered Evan Leicher to his employee. "Miss Clark, please escort our friends here to thief new work station."

The young woman invited the two scientists to follow her out. They tried to protest that they were in the middle of something and near a major breakthrough, but Leicher wouldn't hear any of it, they both eventually left with Diana Clark, leaving the head scientist and the soldiers alone with the metis.

Of course, neither of them actually knew that the man they called Evan Leicher and his assistant, as well as a good number (but not all) of the soldiers were, in fact, werespiders. In fact, besides having studied werewolves firsthand for years, neither of them could conceive the existence of other kind of shape shifters.

The werewolf however, knew.

"Back again, Annanasi…" he snarled in garou, fighting against the sedative to remain conscious.

"It is hard for me to put reason behind most act by your highly irrational race, mule, but why would you fight the effect of a drug meant to ease the pain of this experiment?" Leicher asked, giving the helpless werewolf a cold, cruel smile.

"The wounds heal quickly, but the pain fuels my rage, it tempers my resolve and it keeps me from forgetting who I am." the garou managed to say weakly.

"And that would be?" the werespider asked without much interest as he reached out for another needle of tranquilizer and gestured the guard to stand ready.

"I am Woric Banecrusher, Philodox cliath of the Get of Fenris, son of Raging Blood, Arhoun athro of the Get of Fenris…" he recited fiercely.

"Blah blah blah, I don't care your tribe, your ancestry of your auspice, in here, you are all the same, that is, mere tools that will allow me to wipe out the Wyrm's influence from the face of the heart, taking your then made useless race along with it." The annanasi said, planting the silver tipped needle deep in garou's neck.

With a hateful howl and violent attempts to get free from his bounds, the Get finally lost consciousness. Leicher gestured to the soldiers: "Take him to the extraction room and put him in a pod, send another team to replace you while you are at it, we need to hurry."

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"Alright troops listen up, I know this sucks. I'm the first guy who would rather do something else tonight than go risk his hide, yet again, in a battle against seemingly insurmountable odds. But we do not have that luxury. As humans and wolves, we might have been content to just watch everything around us be destroyed by forces beyond our control, unable and maybe unwilling to do anything about it. But we are neither human nor wolves, we are werewolves! We are garou! We are the warriors of Gaia! We do not have the option to stand idle and let forces of the Wyrm and Weaver bring about the end of our day, and with it, the end of Gaia and the earth. To stand strong against them is more than duty, our fate and our curse. None of us asked for it, and many among you refused it, hell that's why most of you joined the gnawers, to stand aside from that battle as long as possible, to follow the way of Rat, to survive, by running and hiding if need be. But when a rat as nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, even he must turn and fight and this is what we, the Bone Gnawers of the Road Kill Smell sept must do today. We must take step to ensure not only our survival but that of our entire race, we must rise from the gutter were so many, even among us, have said our place lies and bring our number and our stubborn refusal to die to the enemy's doorstep and show them, and the entire Garou nation along with them, why not to mess with the sons and daughters of Rat!"

Alley-Fang speech seemed to have inspired at least half the assembled rabbles, some of them cheered for him, other had a look of grim resolve on their face, but they seemed ready to fight nonetheless.

The rest just weren't given a choice, this was war after all.

The ragabash stepped down from the dumpster as Sirine took over and organized the gathered werewolf so that those who had experience would teach all those who didn't the basic of combat as soon as possible. He turned to Sarika and Cry-The-Red-Tear.

"How'd I do?" he asked, smirking.

"That was... impressive, you ever though about changing auspice, become a galliard, you clearly have it in you?" Cry asked.

"What and loose my _carte blanche_ at saying anything that pops to my mind to anyone I meet no matter how grossly inappropriate or disrespectful it might be?" he said.

"That is no exactly what being a ragabash entails…" Cry corrected him.

"No, that's just what I make of it, that's the way I am, and I just happen to be of the only auspice from who this kind of thing is remotely tolerated. Beside, while I may be able to pull out a good speech once in a while, I don't know squat about Garou history and I heard homeless dog howl more harmoniously than me. On the other hand, I excel as much in stealth, guile and finding unconventional solutions to problem as I do at stirring controversy and challenging traditions, thus, making new moon my moon!" he concluded proudly.

"Can't argue with that logic…" the philodox conceded.

"Still, have you ever though about challenging Sirine as sept leader?" Sarika said.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked.

"Had you not intervened, she would not have done anything to bring the rabbles to our cause, and when she failed to inspire them, you did it…" she observed.

"Sirine isn't a bad leader, she's just a little too stiffly anchored in tradition, which isn't all that bad, considering most of rat's tradition are about sharing, respect and survival. I don't think I have what it takes to be a good leader, too much responsibility, too much people looking at you, trying to figure you out. Nope, my place is in the shadow of a great leader, offering my sometime valuable advices and "would be insane if they didn't actually work every time" plans." He explained dismissively.

"And that great leader would be me?" she asked, somewhat flattered.

"Most of the time, yeah…" he said, winking.

"It seems I'm the only one who fails to see what it is I do to earn so much praise. I am a warrior, a very capable one with if I do say so myself, but what do I do as a leader, lead you into battle? I mean, anyone could do that…" Sarika wondered.

"Anyone can order me to charge a wyrmdrake and try to take it down, you're the only one I'd actually listen to. 'Cause you're the only one I can believe, without the shadow of a doubt, would be charging right beside me and never back down no matter how hopeless things may seem. You've been through more shit than any of us, this war as cost more to you than to me, Asenka or Cry, yet you fight on, and because you've lost so much, you would sooner die than loose us. You care for us like family and we care back the same way, you would die for our sake and we would gladly return the favor, you lead us in battle with zeal, courage and resolve and thus, you inspire the same in us. I honor you as alpha because in you I see hope, hope that no matter what the Wyrm does to us, we can always stand back up and fight back. By your side, the odds never seem too great, the victory never too far, and the future never too bleak. _That_, not your skill in battle, is what makes you a great leader." Alley-Fang said, with seriousness rarely heard in his tone.

Sarika's face didn't show it, it never really did betray any of her feelings…save anger, but she was deeply touched by what the ragabash had just said. The two of them had changed around similar times and were quickly putted together in a pack with Cry-The-Red-Tear. In the beginning, she had appreciated the quiet wisdom of the metis but the wiseass (and let's be honest, smelly) street drifter had first gotten on her nerves a lot and she remembered times when, driven by her newfound raging temper, she would have gladly ripped his head off. Hearing Aaron confess these things to her made her realize how far they had come together, and how much the bone gnawer had grown on her.

He was right, her life, even before the first change had been hard. Beside all the trouble the average Native American can have in regard of prejudice, she also had a rather lonely childhood; she lived alone with her aunt in a shack far removed from civilization, she was told her mother was dead and her father visited so little she had time to forget about him between visits. Sure, her kinfolk aunt though her many of the ancestral tradition of the Native Americans, while slipping a little of the lore of the Wendigo. She was, in a way, raised to her position in the Garou nation since childhood. When she changed the first time, in a violent battle with Wyrmspawn attacking her father, thing certainly didn't get better. First, she found out that her mother wasn't only dead; she had been embraced as a gangrel vampire shortly after giving birth by a leech that did it to punish her father for having slain his coterie. She tracked down her mother and, with grim resolve, struck her down with her own claws. Not long after that, a fourth werewolf was introduced to the pack, Ian Killswitch, a ragabash of the glass walker. On their first mission, Ian was killed in an ambush by a pack of black spiral dancers, something Sarika always felt responsible for because she had told him to stall behind to watch their back and provide cover fire with his fetish gun, which Alley-Fang (but now, unfortunately, Leicher) now carried. Shortly after this, her father died in battle.

So yes, she had pretty much just lost most of the thing she cared about to the Wyrm, and part of the reason why Alley-Fang got on her nerves at first is that he hadn't. He had had, by human standard, a very normal and uneventful life before the change; he had dropped out of college and was just going from one crappy job to another before one day, a bunch of mugging thug met a furious crinos… The change however hardly made him loose anything. He quickly severed regular connection to his family and his former friends and fully embraced his fate as a warrior of Gaia. His cheerfulness and his instance that being a garou is so great clashed violently with all the pain her nature had brought Sarika, at least at first. She was, maybe just a little resentful of the ragabash having the time of his life while her world crumbled around her from the same event.

In time however, she had gotten over it and instead had learned to cling to what she had and never letting it go. She devoted herself fully to her pack and in she felt she had surpassed all those hardship thanks to them. From Cry, she had learned wisdom, stoicism and temperance, some of Alley-Fang's cheerfulness and optimism had managed to pull her up after each hard blow, even, at time, allowing her to forget the pain of loss and the pressure of responsibility and enjoy genuinely enjoy herself. Later, when Asenka joined them, she found true kinship in another for the first time in a while, especially in both being headstrong arhoun with a score to settle with vampires; the two of them had grown something of a friendly rivalry. Today, as Alley-Fang said, she would gladly die before loosing her friends, her family: her pack.

While she was thinking about all this, both her and Cry stared at Alley-Fang…

"It's hum…been on my mind for some time…though I should tell you…" he answered, feeling a little awkward, rubbing the back of his head "Could you two stop starring at me, please…"

Sarika didn't smile often, but she did this time.

"Thank you." She said under her breath. Before anyone could add anything, she changed the subject: "Come on now, we need to help these youngster get ready for tonight."

Aaron and Cry complied happily.

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"We're here." Sarah announced.

"Finally…" Asenka answered.

As they both walked into Mark Hapkin's apartment, Sarah got the feeling that something was wrong. Her father was in the middle of the living room, looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry Sarah…" the aged man said.

Before anyone could ask why, 6 men holding guns got out of behind the couch, inside the kitchen and bedroom and even behind them in the all. Asenka let out a feral snarl while looking around, but she was obviously surrounded and outnumbered…

"Dad, what's going on?" Sarah asked.

"They say you helped one of the GLS escape, they want to know where it is, I told them they didn't have to threaten us…but they wouldn't listen, please Sarah, tell them so we can…" professor Hapkin started…

"The other one's a werewolf guys watch out!" one of the armed men said, causing all the others to point their weapons at Asenka…

"And you guys are…ghouls…" Asenka growled, sniffing the distinctive Wyrm taint from them.

"Ghouls?" Mark Hapkin wondered, confused at this turn of events.

For only answer, one of the nearby ghouls smashed the butt of his riffle in his face knocking him out.

"Dad!" Sarah wanted to go help her father, but with six guns pointed at them…

"Ok girl, here's the deal, you can get off the hook easy, we don't care about you, we just want the lupines. Now you tell us where they are, and you and you're father are gonna get out of this in relatively good shapes." The ghouls who had identified Asenka as a werewolf, who seemed to be the leader, said.

"She ain't telling you squat, bloodsucker wannabes, because you're all about to be nothing more than splattered mass of flesh and blood on the wall of this room" Asenka snarled, taking a defiant step forward.

"There's enough tranquilizer in our riffles to take out a herd of elephants, you might not want to get on our bad side…" the ghoul taunted.

Asenka felt fresh out of options, she had a plan, but it was bold and she needed Sarah to get out of the way…

"Sarah, do you hear this…" she told Weasel over the totem bound.

Weasel was the only one to react however…Asenka felt he was worried and was already contacting the others.

"Wait a minute…" the ghoul leader said, pointing his gun at Sarah instead of the most obvious threat to his life and limbs… "That girl's…one of those mages…"

He was answered by a quizzical look from absolutely everyone else in the room…

"A mage?" one of the ghouls asked.

"A what?" another said.

Asenka had heard of mages, human who could reshape reality to their whim, and perceive it on other level too, that might explain why she had been able to overhear the totem bound. Weasel's theory of her always having those powers but being too choked by weaver taint might have been true…

Sarah had been thinking the same thing, and just by thinking about it, she reestablished the connection and heard Asenka's voice calling her out for a third time.

"Please answer damnit…" she said.

"I heard you…" she said out loud.

The ghouls gave her a weird look…

"Don't answer out loud! Now listen, I'll try to phase out to the umbra to get out of here, you get to the ground as soon as I transform and try to find a safe place…" the werewolf said.

"But…"

Before Sarah could protest, Asenka shifted to crinos, but refrained from howling, seeing as they were in a public place. Just as all the ghouls tried to shoot her, she quickly pierced the gauntlet, but not before receiving two darts…who did indeed seem to be quite powerful as she felt a little knock out once on the other side. No time for this however, she had people to kill…

Meanwhile, Sarah dropped to the ground and covered her head, easy for her to say "find a safe spot, she was in the middle of angry vampire blood addict with guns and nothing left to shoot…

Asenka moved around the umbral reflection of the room, found a good tactical spot and attempted to reenter the physical world.

…Of course, _she_ was all safe and sound in the umbra where none of them could reach her, Sarah though…

Asenka reentered the physical world in a ghouls back and managed to dig her claws in his back…but the others reacted faster then her rage enhanced reflexes could counter and she was, before she could do anything else, she took a full volley of darts in the chest…when she was about to loose consciousness, she looked around and didn't see Sarah…

"Good, she must have escaped in the confusion…" she though as she felt herself passing out. In a last ditch effort to save herself, she once again reached across the gauntlet…

And in the umbra, two being came over the unconscious body of the werewolf, her pack totem, the Weasel, who was glad she had made it to safer ground…

And a terrified and confused Sarah Hapkin who had no idea how she had gotten here…

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Woric Banecrusher awoke to find himself completely immobilized in his breed form in some kind of metallic pod from which only his lupine head was visible. He felt the coldness of metal running through is body at several places and above all, he felt the oppressive static atmosphere of a weaver tainted area.

He heard a raspy, weak voice in garou on his left: "Finally awake Gaian…"

It was a white skinned, bat nosed and eared crinos with and apparent taste for scarification, obviously a spiral dancer, trapped in a similar pod.

"I have nothing to say to you, Wyrmspawn!" Woric growled as he noticed that there might have been as many as fifteen like him and the tainted Garou in the same position.

"You would have been better off dying in whatever experiment they performed on you before this…I myself though my end had come, 4 silver bullets should have done it, but no, then wanted me alive…they…need us…" the spiral continued.

"Shut your trap!" the Get of Fenris ordered.

"There is still some fighting left into you I see, good. We never know, someone might come and free us before they harvest…" he continued.

"Harvest?" the philodox asked, eager to learn what was going on, even if it had to be from this monster.

"They need gnosis to power a machine that will…" He let out a raspy noise, hinting that he was in very bad shape "seal the gauntlet forever…"

"What! This cannot be, they can't, it's…" the fenrir was at a loss for words…this was…unthinkable.

"Yet it is what they will attempt and whether they succeed or not, they'll drain us of our spiritual energy to try…whatever happens with their plan, we wont be around to witness it…might be better off this way anyway…" the dancer continued.

"We have to escape, then! Stop them!" the Get raged.

"These pods hold us tightly, we cannot break free on our own, but maybe others will come…" the dancer replied.

"Like whom, no one must know we are here, of that this is going on, this is….unconceivable after all…" Woric answered.

"If Alley-Fang escaped, he must have warned others, he might come back, with reinforcement…" the albino metis answered.

"Who's Alley-Fang?" Woric asked "…he felt he had heard that name."

"A bone gnawer prisoner I though I was giving my life to help escape…now I am alive, I can only hope he is too…" Slice-The-Heart concluded, having exhausted himself just by saying this…

Woric wasn't sure he wanted to trust a black spiral dancer that a bone gnawer was his last hope…then again; this was the first hopeful thing he had heard in weeks as a prisoner in this damnable complex.

And so he prayed to Gaia that this Alley-Fang would indeed come to their aid.

(((Yes, Yes people. I'm still alive…It took me an awfully long time, but I finally did right a 9th chapter. In the meantime, the game from which this whole story is inspired ended with a final game session of the apocalypse…Alley-Fang died a hero but the Garou won, the wyrm was destroyed and the rest of the pack managed to live on. Rather nice ending if you ask me. I also haven't played any WoD game in a damn long time so I guess I was just a little out of inspiration.

Bien…what can I say, I'm flattered that fanfiction means so much to you, I'm tempted to wallow in pride and say its only my work…but I see I'm not the only one to receive your touching comments... well, hang in there, I can only imagine how hard it is to loose your main sense, I'm glad you found fanfiction to help you through.

'till nest time guys….'cause I gotta finish this thing eventually ;p )))


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